Stupid Destiny Talk
by MechaMax
Summary: AS/S slash. Scorpius takes every chance he gets to pick on Albus but after getting detention together Albus seems to get the idea that they are friends.
1. Chapter 1

I haven't been much into the HP-fandom for many years but suddenly fell in love with Scorpius. I read a couple of fanfics and wanted to write down my version of Scorpius. Of course that turned into a slash-story... Enjoy!

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><p>Scorpius knew he shouldn't have done it. Scorpius knew there was a huge possibilty that his parents would get a letter sent home and if that happened there was an even bigger possibility that he would have to leave the school. But that didn't stop Scorpius.<p>

It had all begun earlier that day when Scorpius had seen that stupid Potter-kid trip when he was running in the corridor and had dropped all his books and papers. At first Scorpius had been trying to come up with a some nice insult but was then distracted. Rose Weasley helped the stupid boy pick up his stupid books! Why would she bother with him?

Scorpius decided to do something that no one expected, least of all he himself. He walked up and helped picking up the things he had dropped.

"Scorpius?" Albus had said, looking far more confused than ever before.

Scorpius tried to put on his smoothest smile which wasn't very smooth at all. Albus was even more confused than before.

"I just saw how you dropped the books and thought I should help."

Albus didn't fall for it and was just about to say something insulting but was interrupted even before a single word left his opened mouth.

"That's so thoughtful, Scorpius." It was Rose who spoke.

Scorpius cheeks got a slightly pinker colour as he adverted his eyes. They all stood up and Albus tried to get a better grip around his books.

"Thanks, Rose." He smiled towards his friend and then turned towards Scorpius with a suspicous expression. Scorpius didn't blame him. "Thanks, I guess."

Albus ran off and almost tripped again as he glanced over his shoulder. Scorpius didn't even see him anymore. He was just smiling towards Rose.

"I thought you didn't like anyone of the Potters?" Rose laughed.

"I'm not a big fan, but that doesn't mean I can't help when they need help, does it?"

Scorpius had a smug smile on his face and Rose couldn't help but laugh at it. She tried to choke it but ended up laughing harder. Scorpius didn't look very smug anymore.

"I'm sorry. It's just hard to imagine. But it was nice chatting. I'll see you in class."

The girl walked off and left Scorpius feeling like an idiot. Little did he know that because of that one nice act he had changed his whole destiny. Well, he did get to know later that day when he was up in one of the towers of Hogwarts and had a cup of tea in his hands. He was trying to tell his friends future but could barely see anything other than dirt in the bottom of the cup. His friend on the other hand seemed very excited.

"Scorpius, you won't believe this!" Scorpius didn't even bother looking at the friend. "This here says that your destiny just changed!"

"Doesn't destiny change quite often according to this class?"

"Wait a second..."

Soon the teacher was looking into the cup and gasped with glee as she looked into it. She waved her hands in the air as she walked up to Scorpius and hugged him against his will. She was a very thin but strong woman.

"You should be careful, my boy! But don't be scared. Even if something scary is happening you destiny will change to the better."

Scorpius didn't care more about that. His destiny had never mattered to him before and it wouldn't start doing it not either. Just as he had the words "stupid destiny talk" in his mind he bumped into someone and the words kept ringing in his ears as if someone had whispered them to him.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching were I was going!"

Scorpius froze. Not that it was cold or that he was hurt. He froze for right now he was lying on the floor, staring up into the roof and the first thing he heard when he realised he had walked into someone was the voice of Albus Severus Potter.

"Here, let me help you."

Scorpius could see hand stretching out but ignored it. He stood up, brushed off some dust and then walked away. With all the talk of destiny he didn't really like to involve a Potter into his destiny. Albus didn't let him run away that easily.

"I'm really sorry, Scorpius! Please don't rattle to a teacher!" The boy sounded so pitiful.

"I won't," was all that scorpius said.

"Thanks, Scorpius! You're really nice today!"

It was at this moment that Scorpius couldn't take it anymore. He knew that it was a bad idea and he would get into trouble but he just couldn't keep the fury inside. Suddenly he threw himself over Albus, pushed him to the ground and started hitting the boy. It didn't take long before the boy put up a fight and soon they were fighting with half the school in a circle around them.

"Come on, Scorpius! Give him all you've got!"

"Don't take crap from him, Albus!"

"Kick him in the nuts, Malfoy!"

"I knew you got it in you, Potter!"

The students cheered for them until a teacher arrived. Soon they found themselves sitting in an office with a professor on the other side of the desk. She was very upset and by the sound of her voice she also seemed to be disappointed, most of all with Albus.

"What got into the two of you? You both are so peaceful."

They didn't answer.

"Can you please tell me who started the fight?"

The boys looked at each other and without even moving a muscle in their faces Scorpius had made sure that Albus wouldn't tell_or__else_...

"Scorpius?"

He kept his mouth shut.

"Albus?"

He opened his but closed it just as fast.

"If neither of you will speak I don't have any choice. Five points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor. And both of you will get detention.

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><p>I hope people liked it... this is just the start though. I will keep writing this until I come up with a good ending! And to tell the truth I'm bad with endings... Please review so that I know if you like it :<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Second chapter is up just as fast as the first! Wow. I know, not very impressive. But this is where it actually starts. The end is a bit odd, but it will be better as the next chapter start. I'll have to work on the third chapter a little bit more... It will be posted before Yule, though.

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><p>Scorpius didn't even look at Albus when they left the office. The day afterwards when Albus tried to talk to him Scorpius pretended Albus wasn't even there. Scorpius friend Apollo Braithwaite noticed the obvious ignoring.<p>

"I know you don't really like him, but that was pretty harsh."

"Harsh? That's not enough. A Potter isn't even worth breathing the same air as me." Scorpius didn't really mean what he said. He didn't bother about the other Potters as much as Albus. It was Albus that had made him angry and he could actually accept the others breathing his air.

"I never knew you had that sharp of a tongue," Apollo said and seemed almost impressed. The boy didn't really fit the image of a Slytherin student in neither mind nor body. He had a soft face with clearly visible dimples on his cheeks. His hair was red as a Weasley and he had freckles all over his face and body. He had been confused as a Weasley more than once.

"Shut up," Scorpius hissed and hurried his pace. Apollo started jogging in a try to keep up.

"Then it is true that the two of you got into a fight?"

"Yes. And if we wouldn't have been interrupted I would have won."

"A fight with fists?"

"Yes. I'm far stronger than that wimp!"

"What will your father say?"

At that moment Scorpius suddenly felt all his confidence fly out of the window next to him. He had stopped and stared at his friend with a frightened stare.

"What _will_ my father say? He'll kill me for sure! He did tell me that a gentleman never fight and if he finds out I fought with a Potter he will kill me a second time! He's so weird when it comes to the Potters."

Scorpius was leaning against the frame of the window with Apollo standing next to him, considering whether patting his back would be suicide or a nice act. Apollo never had to decide as an owl came through the window. Scorpius took a letter from it but it didn't leave.

"Go away!" Scorpius tried to chase it away with his hands but it wouldn't. "Stupid owl."

He began reading the letter and was very surprised. It was a letter from his father. Of course! How in the world could he have heard about this already? Scorpius didn't dare continue reading but with the owl staring at him he guessed the owl wouldn't leave without a letter to bring back. It wasn't even Thaddeus, their mighty house owl.

_"Dear Son._

_I don't write to you half as much as I want to. You know by now that your mother does most of the writing. I'm far too busy with work but took some minutes to write this. I hope you're a good student and do better in class than the Weasley girl._

_Take care._

_Love Draco Father._

_P.S. give the owl a letter telling if you are coming home for Christmas. I hope you know that your mother will only accept one answer."_

Scorpius couldn't help but smile at the letter. Not only was he relieved that it wasn't the letter he was expecting but also he was entertained for it was obvious that Astoria had forced Draco to write the letter. It also explained that it wasn't Thaddeus. Draco had probably sent the owl from work.

Scorpius wrote a short reply that he obviously would spend Christmas with his parents. The owl flew off and the day continued like normally.

It wasn't until the next morning when he was having breakfast that something out of the ordinary happened. When all the owls came with the mail like usual Thaddeus landed on the table in front of Scorpius. Unlike some of the other owls Thaddeus didn't even touch any of the food. The owl was very well raised by Scorpius father himself!

Scorpius didn't bother with the letter at first. He patted the owl and gave him some ham. The owl actually made Scorpius get a little bit homesick. He guessed that the letter was probably from his mother. He was wrong.

_"You are a disgrace! How could you, a Malfoy, be in a fight? A Malfoy is a gentleman and does not get involved in something as childish as a fistfight! For your sake I hope you weren't the one to start the fight! I hope the professor gives you what you deserve!"_

The letter wasn't even signed but it was obvious that the letter was from his father. Scorpius who had been longing for Christmas suddenly felt like he never wanted to return home. And he could forget the broom he wanted! But when Scorpius had finished reading his letter he only folded it and put it with his books like it was just like any letter that he had ever gotten. He patted Thaddeus and gave him some more ham before the owl flew away.

Scorpius didn't even have time to move a single muscle before a new letter was delivered to him. This was from the professor that gave him detention and it simply read "Tonight at nine in the Entrance Hall it's time for detention. The Janitor will meet you there."

This was something that Scorpius kept a secret from his friends. He even sneaked out of the common room just so that they wouldn't ask any questions. Many of his friends wouldn't be merciful if they knew he was away getting punished.

When Scorpius came to the Entrance Hall the word "destiny" popped into his head again. Not far away from the door stood Albus, rolling his thumbs. For a second it looked like he was about to smile as he noticed Scorpius but then realised they didn't really like each other.

The stood at each side of the room until the Janitor showed up. He was a scrawny man holding a big lantern. He didn't say much before he shoved them out of the door and lead them down towards nothing other than the Forbidden Forest itself. They stopped right by the edge of it.

"We're not going in are we?" Scorpius tried to not look as uncertain as he was but failed completely.

"You scared or something?" the Janitor smirked.

"No! Students aren't allowed in there."

"You are in luck, boy. Once upon a time we used to send kids into these woods and if they were lucky they would come out only a little bit insane the next morning."

"And what about now?" Albus said with a lot more courage in his voice than Scorpius had been able to pull off.

"You will stay here in the bushes and try to find a rabbit. It escaped last night and since it can't be seen during the day you will have to look for it now at night. When you catch it you put it in the cage with the others."

"Isn't that your job?"

"No, it's yours."

The Janitor chuckled as he walked away and left the boys with nothing but the lantern that was far too big for them to carry with them. Scorpius tried but could only drag it closer to the bushes. He began searching without even giving Albus a second thought. Actually he did give Albus more than one or two thoughts, but he pretended that he didn't.

"It's here!" Albus whispered after a while.

Scorpius crawled over to the boy but stayed at least three feet away from him.

"I saw it over there but it is fast. Maybe we should come up with some plan?"

Scorpius had to think this over. Should he keep ignoring the other boy and risk spending the whole night in the outskirts of the woods or should he call a truce and get it over with? He didn't even have to think for long to decide.

"Do you have any idea?"

Albus smiled since it was the first time since the fight that Scorpius had acknowledged his existence. He tried to hide the smile but Scorpius had already seen it.

"I thought that maybe we could paralyze it? You are quick with the wand, aren't you?"

"Are we allowed to use magic? Then why didn't the stupid Janitor tell us."

Scorpius pulled out his wand and within a second he had tried to paralyze the rabbit. Too bad Scorpius didn't know that this wasn't just another bunny. This was a magical creature that was immune to most spells. The only thing that happened was some sparks as the spell hit the rabbits white fur and then the rabbit ran off; into the woods.

"Damn it! We're never going to catch it now!" Scorpius cursed.

"We have to follow it!" Albus grabbed Scorpius hand and pulled him up as he himself ran off after the rabbit.

They ran after the white spot until it suddenly disappeared. They stopped, looked around and both of the boys had the same word in their mind; "shit". Not only had they lost sight of the rabbit but had as well managed to run a little bit too far into the woods.

"This is your fault, Potter!" Scorpius yelled.

"If we don't catch the rabbit we'll be out here for the whole night!"

"I'm going to tell my father about this. He won't be happy with the school!"

"You can tell your father if we get out of here."

It wasn't until then that Albus let Scorpius hand go. Suddenly the darkness was even more frightening. Scorpius unconsciously took a step closer to Albus.

"You have any idea what to do now?" Scorpius asked as he tried to spot either the big lantern or the rabbit but could only see darkness.

"Turn around and walk back?"

Albus turned a hundred and eighty degrees and then began walking but stopped after just two steps. He looked over his shoulder at Scorpius that was just behind him.

"Would you mind holding hands?"

Scorpius had to once more think it over. Holding hands would be queer but on the other hand he was in fact scared of the dark. If he did agree he would never let himself forget about it but the darkness and the fear of what might be lurking in it was at this moment far bigger.

"Don't tell anyone, Potter!" Scorpius warned as he grabbed the other boy's hand. It was far warmer than Scorpius and was comforting. He couldn't help but feel a bit calmer and less scared.

They walked slowly and kept an eye out for both the rabbit and the lantern but both felt like it was all hopeless. Scorpius forced himself to speak to break the tension that scared him.

"I can't believe that Janitor forced us into the forest. I mean, it must have been like a hundred years since the last time!"

"No, not at all!" Albus said. "My father once told me about him getting detention and being sent in here. He didn't say much but I thought your father went in here as well."

"My father never got detention!"

Albus laughed and Scorpius stopped.

"What are you laughing at?" Scorpius was irritated.

"I just never imagined I would walk in this forest, holding your hand and be chatting with you like this."

Albus turned around and looked at Scorpius. It was dark and hard to see but their eyes met anyway. It was amazing how the darkness suddenly disappeared from his consciousness and all he could see was the boy in front of him and all he could feel was the warmth from the hand in his. Not a single thought got into his mind at the time. When seconds had passed Scorpius slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips against Albus'.

It wasn't really a kiss but wasn't far from it either. When their lips separated from each other practically nothing happened. Albus forced himself to smile and began walking again. Scorpius followed him as they were still holding hands.

Scorpius wasn't himself and was barely present the rest of the night. They did finally get out of the forest and when they were just about to start looking Albus threw himself at the ground and soon he was standing with the white rabbit in his arms.

Scorpius didn't say a word to Albus the whole night and not until he was actually laying in bed he suddenly found himself blushing with his heart pounding in his chest. He hated the Potter kid even more than he had before!

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><p>I love not to write the name of the staff... I have to admit I imagine that it's still Filch that is the janitor... XD I dunno.<br>Please review if you liked it!  
>It will motivate me to write more and faster :D<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

A thirteen year old boy's brain is really an amazing thing. Scorpius had been living a peaceful life for almost two weeks. He had simply decided to deal with the events during the detention with ignoring and forgetting. He didn't know if it was healthy, but he was then again only thirteen and didn't care. For him everything was back to normal and that was all that mattered to him.

Yes, two weeks and everything was fine. During a lesson of potions Scorpius even got to sit beside Rose! Even though he would never admit it to his father he did have a crush on the girl, like most other boys. She was such a beautiful girl and was probably best in class so many of the boys tried to get the spot beside here.

"Albus asked about you," she said without a care in the world.

Scorpius reacted a little bit too much to the words and started choking on nothing. Rose patted his back a little as she giggled and Scorpius tried to laugh it off. Luckily enough the teacher didn't really notice the little attack as he was being occupied with explaining why you couldn't mix two liquids without it ending with an explosion, as it had the lesson before.

"Why are the two of you talking about me?" he tried to ask casually but failed remarkably.

"Because Albus told me that you didn't seem to hate him as much anymore. He also said that he wondered why he never sees you around."

It wasn't easy for Scorpius to come up with a good reply. He didn't really know what to say as he had actually never liked Albus and couldn't understand why the boy would suddenly care about him. He had never thought that actually talking to the boy that night would make him think they were friends or something like that! Then he would never have done it. He hated the Potters. All of them. Especially Albus Potter.

"You can tell him I don't have time to bother with him," he did rephrase the sentence a few times in his head so that he wouldn't sound like too much of a douche in front of Rose.

"Tell him yourself. I'm not going to be your middleman!" Rose sounded irritated, something she rarely did.

"But..." Scorpius said as he tried to come up with an excuse.

"Listen, Scorpius, I know the boy can be _very_oblivious at times and I really don't know why Albus, of all people, suddenly think you are nice after all the things you've said and done to him. I won't even try to figure it out as I guess it's none of my business, but I think he deserves to hear it from your mouth if you never want to see his face again."

Scorpius never knew that Rose had realised how he had treated Albus. It was probably obvious that he wasn't very fond of the boy and Scorpius didn't keep his voice down when he spoke badly of any of the Potters but he still did his best to act nice sometimes just so that Rose wouldn't think he was a total douche.

At this time Scorpius couldn't come up with a single thing to say. As he remained silent for a while Rose began smiling and put a hand upon his. Scorpius flinched and stared at her, feeling butterflies in his stomach.

"If you do it I'll be very proud of you," was all she said. She knew she could manipulate Scorpius and she felt that her cousin deserved it. Soon she turned away and faced the kettle again and told Scorpius to put the frog brain in it.

Scorpius was a little bit flustered after having the girl's hand upon his and almost knocked the kettle over when he tried to do as she said. Suddenly he forgot about Albus and had to concentrate on the lesson instead.

When class was over Scorpius slightly remembered the 'kind of a promise' he had made but didn't care about it at all. Not until he was in the library and he accidentally saw Albus talking with his older brother a few shelves down he remembered. If it weren't for Rose talking about Albus earlier Scorpius wouldn't even have noticed the boy and if he would he would certainly do an excellent job at pretending he didn't notice. This time he couldn't avert his eyes and kept staring at the boy who were smiling and laughing at the same time as he was hitting his brother's arm in a playful way.

Luckily or unluckily, however anyone would want to consider the situation, Albus noticed Scorpius staring. The same moment Scorpius realised this he decided to face his attention at something else. Albus had already excused himself from his brother and began walking towards Scorpius. As he could see the boy walk towards him in the corner of his eye he suddenly panicked. Quickly he walked in between two shelves and tried his best to look natural. He let his hand slide along one of the lines of books, pretending he was searching for something.

"Scorpius!" he heard Albus' voice from behind.

In panic he grabbed a book at random as if he had found what he was looking for. _'__101__things__you__didn__'__t__know__about__muggles__'_. Well that was just the perfect book to look casual, he thought sarcastically to himself.

"Have you been alright?" Albus said as he caught up to Scorpius and stood next to him. They boy seemed a bit too calm with the situation and Scorpius felt even more at loss as to how he should act. Scorpius tried to look natural but with the awkward book in his hand and mister Oblivious Potter in front of him he had a hard time doing so. He didn't know if he should smile or look natural, but whatever he did it seemed to be working as Albus didn't react at all.

"Of course," he answered with a voice that came out a bit smugger than he had expected. "Hey, Potter, there's something-" he was cut off.

"I just wanted to tell you I'm really glad you were the bigger man!" Scorpius was lost. How in the world could this boy think he was 'the bigger man'? He couldn't even remember a situation when he could even have seemed to be such. "I was really nervous because I can't handle darkness too well so I'm glad you kept cool. If you wouldn't have spoken to me I would have died out there!"

Scorpius was even more awkward now. He didn't really know what had happened during the detention in the mind of Albus Potter but it was certainly not the same scenario as to Scorpius. With a forced smile Scorpius tried to casually put the book back in its place on the shelf without letting Albus know what book it was. It probably didn't matter as Albus seemed to be even more oblivious than Scorpius had ever imagined.

"You are reading about muggles?"

Apparently Scorpius was wrong.

The boy giggled a little as Scorpius just ignored him and began walking away. Albus followed him and walked up beside him, still smiling with his whole face.

"There's something you should know, Potter."

"And what is that?"

"I find you annoying."

Albus suddenly stopped. Scorpius could only ignore it for a couple of seconds before he stopped. In that very instant, between the moment when Scorpius had decided to stop and the moment he had turned his head, he seemed to decide on something. He told himself it was simply because he wanted to have a bigger shot with Rose, but that wasn't the whole truth. Scorpius smirked and looked at the boy behind him. He looked as if he had just been told that his dog was dead. It made it even easier for Scorpius to smile naturally.

"I'll find you even more annoying if you suddenly stop like that when I allow you to walk with me."

The Potter boy gave him a hesitant smile as if he was asking if he was kidding or not. When Scorpius just kept staring at him without any insulting words the boy seemed to turn back into that smiling idiot.

They walked out of the library, side by side, and Scorpius had even forgotten why he had entered it in the first place. He had a feeling he had a homework that would never get done.

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><p><strong>Please review if you like it. It will really help me get the energy to keep working on this!<strong>  
><strong>If you have any wishes as to what should happen in the future you are welcome to share your ideas!~<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

****I decided that since it's my birthday (23/12) I will spend the night to write fanfics and update ALL of my fanfics here at until Yule/Christmas!**!**

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><p>"You couldn't possibly do that a little bit louder?"<p>

Scorpius Malfoy was leaning over a book with his hands buried deep down into his hair, not even caring that it ruined his perfect classical hairstyle. On the opposite side of the table sat Albus who was constantly hitting the table with a pencil. Who even used a pencil? Just looking at the piece of wood made Scorpius love the quills with all his might. The dark haired didn't even seem to notice what he was doing. He stared at Scorpius but didn't stop the abuse of the table.

"Do what?" apparently he really wasn't aware of it.

"Stop hitting the table. It's annoying."

Albus stopped and pulled an excusing smile. Scorpius didn't push it any further and tried to fix his hair. Albus went back to his reading and Scorpius to his but when he had only read a couple of sentences the sound was back. Tap, tap, tap. Scorpius closed the book, took his stuff and walked away.

"Scorpius?" he heard the boy call behind his back but Scorpius ignored it.

It had been another two weeks now and Scorpius wasn't sure how things had proceeded the way they had. After that one time when Scorpius had encouraged Albus to walk with him the boy wouldn't let him be. The day after Albus had taken the seat beside Scorpius during astronomy class, much to everyone's surprise. Even the teacher asked if everything was fine. Scorpius tried to excuse it by saying that he didn't want to get in trouble anymore and when Albus wasn't looking he made a "this is torture"-kind of face to the other Slytherin students.

When a week had passed Scorpius spent more time with Albus than he did with the other Slytherin students he called friends. Not even Apollo who considered himself Scorpius' best friend spent as much time with Scorpius as Albus. It wasn't like Scorpius wanted to either. Albus was always there and Scorpius had decided that he wouldn't be mean and he wouldn't pick any fights and he would do his best to just put up with it.

Good things that came out of the time he spent with Albus was that he actually studied and on the test two days before he scored higher than he had ever done. Another good thing was that Albus was very close to his cousin and so Scorpius got the chance to hang out with Rose a lot more than earlier. He knew she was suspicious about Scorpius suddenly being 'nice' (if accepting someone's presence could be considered nice) towards Albus but had once said out of the blue "if Albus is happy then I am happy" without neither of the boys being really sure what she was talking about.

"Scorpius!"

Suddenly a hand grabbed Scorpius' and he stopped and turned around. He stared straight into Albus face. A worried frown in his face made the boy resemble a dog. A stupid and very cute dog. If he would have been a dog that is! Then he looked down at his hand that was firmly held in Albus'.

"What?" Scorpius hissed.

"You're not angry, are you?"

"No."

Scorpius didn't know why he lied. The more time he spent with Albus the more did he lie about that kind of thing. He was constantly angry and irritated with Albus and when the boy did irritating things like tapping a pen at a table repeatedly it made him in an even worse mood. It didn't make any sense why he was afraid that his words would come out too harsh. He had never worried before.

Albus didn't see through the lie at all and was only happy that Scorpius wasn't mad with him. A wide smile spread on his face with just the right amount of teeth, as the kind of smile that Scorpius had been training at but still couldn't master. It gave the blonde yet another reason the get even more annoyed.

"I've got to go to class," he lied again and tried to release his hand from Albus'.

"Ah, then I'll see you later?" Albus didn't let him go just yet.

"Sure, I'll see you around."

"No, I meant at dinner. Can't we eat together?"

"What? No! You know I want to sit with my friends from Slytherin."

"But I thought I could join you."

"No. Come on, I've got to go."

Albus reluctantly let Scorpius' hand go. Scorpius forced a short smile to say goodbye as he left the other boy alone in the corridor. When he walked off Scorpius worriedly rubbed his hand. Worried why on earth he had accepted that the other boy was holding his hand…

During dinner Scorpius was chatting with his friends (who had made Albus an intern joke and kept poking Scorpius with comments like "like Potter" or "what would Potter say?") but was interrupted in his good time when Apollo was telling the ending of a really funny story. Scorpius turned his head after feeling someone tap his shoulder and there stood Albus with a smile in his face.

"What are you doing here?" Scorpius tried to sound calm but the panic in his voice was obvious. His friends giggled.

"I just wondered if you had time later. My brother bought this new game and..." Albus sounded nervous as he spoke and kept giving Scoprius' friends nervous glances. Albus never finished the sentence as he hoped Scorpius had caught on. Scorpius had but pretended he hadn't.

"Seriously, Potter, get out of my face."

Scorpius turned back to his friends who all looked a bit confused. Some tried to laugh and Apollo continued with his story. Albus didn't leave though and tapped Scorpius shoulder again.

"What about the game?"

Scorpius didn't even turn his head. He just sighed. "Just go."

Albus was just about to ask again but Scorpius who heard that nervous "uhm" turned and gave him a glance that made the boy realise it was best to just leave. Albus looked really hurt and a little bit afraid as he walked away and tried to wave goodbye. Scorpius turned back to his friends and pretending nothing had happened. His friends didn't have the same idea though and Apollo didn't even try to finish the story.

"Seriously Scorpius, we get it if you hang out with him to look better in front of the teachers or raising your grades but I mean… playing games?"

"Are you friends with a Potter? You?"

"We're not friends!" Scorpius hissed to his friends in a try to get them to back off. They didn't at all.

"Then what? Are you babysitting him?"

Everyone, even Apollo, started laughing. Scorpius stared angrily at them but it didn't work.

"Shut up! He's just bugging me all the time and I don't want to get in trouble again."

The others tried to choke their laughs but before they managed to do it Scorpius got tired of them and walked away. He was cursing to himself, mumbling "as if we would be friends" when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and almost yelled like a girl. He felt lucky he had left the entrance hall and didn't have to live with his friends seeing him frightened like that. He was even more happy that he wasn't in the Great Hall when he saw who it was.

Behind him stood Albus with an uncertain face. He retreated his hand quickly and didn't seem to be sure what to say and was waiting for a response. A million (meaning about four) things to say crossed Scorpius mind before he decided to not say anything at all. He shook his head, turned around and started walking towards the dungeons. Albus walked after him.

"I'm sorry," said Albus with an uncertain voice. "I really am."

Scorpius sighed. "I told you no and you had to come anyway."

"Technically you said…" Albus began but got a murdering stare from Scorpius. He guessed it was better not to talk about formalities if Scorpius was irritated. He had to make a note of that later.

Scorpius kept walking and Albus followed until they were deep down in the dungeons. Scorpius suddenly stopped and turned towards Albus. The boy looked as if he was about to cry. Scorpius suddenly felt a little lost and decided to not make the comment he was just about to say, afraid that it would actually make the boy fall apart.

"Will you find your way back?" Scorpius asked and did his best to not put emotions into his voice.

"Will you accept my apology?" the boy changed the subject.

"Will you go back if I do?"

Albus hesitated. He was seriously rolling his thumbs in a nervous manner and stared down at his feet. "No one is forcing you to spend time with me, you know," the boy said and surprised Scorpius. "If you don't want to you can just say no. I bet I steal a lot of time from your other friends."

And Scorpius was dumbfounded. He wasn't aware that he was staring at Albus with an open mouth. He had no idea what to say to that. Two weeks ago he wouldn't have hesitated to accept the offer but now he was actually going through a list of pros and cons in his head. The last weeks he had been so much better in school and he actually had a reason to get out of the dungeons (even though he would never admit it to anyone Scorpius preferred to be above ground). When he put "he is a Potter" on the con-list he couldn't help but put "but he is an okay guy" on the pro.

Scorpius shrugged. He shrugged so that he could shake away the list and that he had just thought of a Potter as okay. He didn't care that his father had tried to stay neutral when speaking about other wizard families, Scorpius didn't like the Potters at all.

"Whatever," he finally said. When he did he could hear a relieved sigh from the other boy. "Run away and get that game or whatever it was and I'll meet you in the library later."

Scorpius didn't have to say anything more before Albus had turned and started running in the right direction. Scorpius watched him suddenly stop and turn back around. He ran up to Scorpius and without hesitation he hugged him. Albus Potter was hugging him. He was no one you hugged just like that! Never! Scoprius Malfoy didn't hug any other people than those that he was related to by blood. Albus didn't care about such a rule and held him close. Their cheeks were pushed together and Scorpius found himself thinking for a split second about how soft the boy's cheek was.

Albus broke the embrace and put his hands on Scorpius shoulders and stared at him with his green eyes that looked like emeralds in the light from the torches.

"Thank you, Scorpius."

Scorpius watched the boy run away and as he rounded the corner Scoprius felt the corner of his mouth curve into a tiny smile. He tried to fight it but couldn't. He walked towards the Slytherin common room with raised shoulders, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

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><p><strong>This chapter changed A LOT because I rewrote the whole ending from how it was from the beginning. I think this is much better and tells my vision of Scorpius in a better way than the old chapter. I'm still not sure where I'm going with this and if you have any idea of something epic or cute or whatever that could happen feel free to review ^_^<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is SHORT. Very short in fact... extremely short. And it probably won't make much sense FOR NOW.  
>You see I was on the train for three hours and started writing this thing and as I wasn't sure how to continue from the end of last chapter I realised this was actually not bad. But you have to be patient. This will explain itself in the next chapter that will be longer and better.<p>

And before you start reading I want to thank all of you who are following this. I don't have any words for it and I hope I won't disappoint you. If you have any thoughts or ideas just review. If you think my stuff suck or is good or whatever review. It really helps me to keep writing with any kind of comment.

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><p>"Are you really going through with it?"<p>

It was late at night and most students had gone to sleep. In the Slytherin common room a fire was flickering in the fireplace and in front of it sat some students, chatting on about whatever they thought was important in life. In the other end of the room sat Scorpius. He was laying down in an armchair with his feet over the armrest. Opposite of him sat Apollo, now leaning forward. Scorpius was trying to despise the other students. Their discussion disgusted him. No one cares whether or not Nerissa liked chocolate, yet they were eagerly discussing it without Nerissa even being present. But it was hard for Scorpius to distract himself with the others stupid conversation. His friend kept staring at him, piercing him with his eyes, and Scorpius found it impossible to ignore.

"I thought it was weird that you suddenly took a shine to-" Apollo continued but was interrupted by Scorpius who suddenly gave the boy attention, though not the kind he had wanted. Scorpius glared at him. "That you suddenly started hanging out with Potter, I mean," Apollo rephrased and Scorpius seemed a little bit more satisfied with that wording as he turned his eyes away, "but that 'plan' I heard of is far too weird and complicated true."

Scorpius sighed. He crossed his legs with a slow movement and stared past the other students, into the fireplace. He nibbled his lower lip and seemed to be thinking hard about something. Apollo felt that for every second that passed he felt more and more uncomfortable and regretted that he had ever brought it up. He had heard it from Gary Gatiss as well so there was no guarantee it wasn't just a part of Gary's own imagination. Most things that left his mouth were.

Suddenly the silence was cut by a low pitch "um"-ish sound that came from Scorpius who was still concentrating on the fire. Apollo looked at him and waited for him to continue.

"I can trust you," Scorpius stated. "You wouldn't betray one you consider a friend just for the sake of a good laugh or gossip." He turned his head and looked at Apollo to confirm it.

"Haven't you always said 'never trust a Slytherin' despite being one yourself?" Apollo laughed shortly but the serious look on Scorpius quieted him.

"Don't be stupid," Scorpius snorted. "One of your parents used to be a Hufflepuff and the other Gryffindor. Your sister is in Ravenclaw. Your family has high standards as you are so different from one another. Unlike the other ones in Slytherin I would say I can trust you. You have never let me down before, have you?"

Apollo suppressed a smile. Scorpius didn't often bother to speak of them as friends and as Apollo often wondered why the hell he was in Slytherin to begin with he was glad he had found one who actually could understand him, if only a little. "I can keep a secret."

"Then listen closely, Braithwaite, because I won't be saying it twice. There is no plan and I never started hanging around with Potter because of anything as silly as that." Scorpius had lowered his voice but still refused to look at Apollo.

"Then why are you hanging out with him?"

"He's the one who is stupid enough to want to hang around me. Not that I mean it's stupid to hang around me!" he was quick to add. "I just can't see why he would so carelessly talk with me as if we were friends. He is stupid, you know?"

"Then why do you accept it?" Apollo leaned back, tried to act casual as he held back the impulse to giggle.

"I do get better grades and I get to hang out with Rose Weasley," Scorpius said and smirked but Apollo wasn't convinced.

"I know you better than that, mate, and I know Rose well enough to know you don't have to be best mates with her cousin to hang out with her." Apollo crossed his legs and smirked. Teasing Scorpius was too much fun! "You know there's nothing wrong with just liking the guy. Just because he's in Gryffindor doesn't mean you _have _to be enemies."

"It's not about that!" Scorpius hissed and got a dangerous look in his eyes. "He's a bloody Potter! I just can't believe that a Potter would want to befriend me, a Malfoy, and to top it off it is that dork Albus who is stupid enough. He annoys me so much that I can't believe I haven't been expelled for turning him into a snail and stamping on him, hearing his stupid shell crack under my feet."

Scorpius jaw was tense, his hand clenched and a very satisfied moan left his throat as he imagined it happening. Apollo looked at him and was in fact a little bit scared as he watched. Suddenly Scorpius moved and sat straight in the chair, staring at Apollo who wondered if he was going to be turned into a snail in Albus' stead.

"But there is no plan and that is just a silly rumour. I didn't even start it myself. Gary probably did. Or _Nerissa_." Scorpius shuddered.

Apollo didn't know what to say.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm really getting into this fanfic and I hope that people will be pleased with what I'm writing. So far I know that it will be at least 14 chapters and then we will see if I can come up with more... So there is more to come!**

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><p>"This game is stupid!" Scorpius said and tossed a card right between Albus' eyebrows. "Let's play something that is actually funny."<p>

"If you will just let me explain the rules you will see that it's actually a really funny game!" Albus tried to explain, but Scorpius just crossed his arms and shook his head.

"No. It's a muggle game. How fun can it be without magic involved?"

"You said you would give it a shot!"

Scorpius had just been about to object once again but closed his mouth. Albus had finally gotten a short moment of silence to explain the simple rules of the game and soon Scorpius was actually willing to give it a chance. Picking up a card and using it to tell a story couldn't be hard, could it? Well, if one would expect the card to do the work itself and imagination being a small part of it, it was probably hard.

"So the old man decided to take the wolf to the meadow," Albus had said and put down a card with a wolf on it and then turned to Scorpius. The blonde hadn't followed the story at all and didn't really know what to do with the "enemy" card he had taken from the top of the deck.

"And on the... meadow..." Scorpius had mumbled and started fiddling with the card. "I don't know. The wolf turned out to be the man's enemy." He put the card on the table.

Suddenly Scorpius had a hand upon his and Albus was smiling at him. "I'm so glad you gave it a try. You are trying really hard."

After that Scorpius had actually been trying harder and in the end they had both been getting some good laughs and once the librarian had even had to tell them both to quiet down.

Albus was walking down the corridor on his way to a classroom when he remembered the librarian's face and giggled by himself, wishing that Scorpius had been around so that they could laugh together to the memory. Suddenly he felt something bump into his shoulder and he let out a surprised "ouch" before he realised what he had bumped into. Gary Moffat. He and his other fourth year Slytherin friends laughed behind Albus' back.

"What did you do that for?" Albus asked as he turned around. He regretted ever opening his mouth the moment he looked at Gary. He knew who he was and he knew that it was best to just ignore him, but this time he spoke before he had time to think.

"Are we being brave now?" Gary laughed and his friends joined him. "But I don't see your bodyguard around, Potter."

Albus tried to come up with something quick to say to get out of the situation, but both Albus and those who had stopped and was trying to hear what they said knew that it was too late. Albus took a deep breath.

"I asked you a question, Moffat," Albus stated with a voice that sounded far braver than he had probably felt ever in his whole life.

The face of the other boy was hilarious. He looked as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Slowly it turned into a hesitating laughter and his friends slowly joined him. He glanced at his friends before he turned back to Albus with new confidence that scared Albus to the point that he thought his legs would give up any second.

"Isn't it sweet, guys?" he asked and looked at his friends. "He thinks he can mess with us just because he's got a boyfriend in Slytherin. But I'm sorry, mate," the fake smile in his face died, "we don't give a fuck."

Albus wasn't sure he had had many good ideas during his life. Many of those he thought was brilliant had often turned into a catastrophe and the moments when others had said that it was a good idea was most of the time not on purpose. This time though he didn't care. It was not a good idea to get involved in a fight with a much stronger Quidditch-playing student who was one year older. But when he felt something break underneath his fist as he had gotten a really good hit to his face he did feel very good inside. Maybe not the best idea but it was probably one of the most satisfying moments of his thirteen year long life. Too bad it was over very soon.

"Albus Potter!"

What followed was not the proudest moment of his life, though. He would probably say he had never felt so ashamed. The first time he had gotten in trouble for the fight with Scorpius his mother had sent him a letter telling him how much trouble he was in and that she was planning to do some unspeakable things to the Malfoy-boy. This time he was lucky his mother wasn't in the room, but instead his father was standing in front of him, yelling, while the head master was sitting behind the desk and was staring at them, mostly fascinated.

Albus tried to convince himself it could be worse. Before Harry had gotten there Gary Moffat had been yelled at by both his parents while he was just sitting at a chair with red ears. Albus had been smirking back then, but now he did everything but.

"I can't believe you! I thought you had learned your lesson but apparently not. If I didn't know you were such a good boy except for this I would have forced the head master to send you home this very instant!"

"Actually I was thinking that," the head master began but as Harry turned around and looked at him he shut his mouth and waved for them both to continue the scolding.

Harry did so, but as he kept speaking the tone in his voice slowly changed and it turned into a worried speech instead. He hugged Albus more than once and was crouching in front of his son, holding his hands.

"You know you can tell me everything, right? You used to do that. Two fights are not like you at all. Are they picking on you?" Harry never explained who he meant by "they" but Albus had an idea that he meant Slytherin students. His father never spoke badly about anyone but Albus had heard his father worry about Slytherin whenever he thought none of his children heard.

The concerned sentences continued until Albus practically shouted "I think he broke my shoulder" even though he probably hadn't, he just wanted to get out of the room since the Head Master had started looking very much bored behind his desk. Father and son left the office to get Albus to the hospital wing where Gary Moffat had headed before Harry had even arrived, taking care of all the serious damage Albus had managed to cause. Harry had his arm over Albus' shoulders, but still careful not to touch the one that was hurt, and held him close to his side as they walked through the corridor. Albus tried to push him away a little, embarrassed to be having his father being so overprotective in school (and actually being in school too), but he did feel a lot calmer and safer with his father there. The warmth and love he felt from his father as he held him close made him reflect differently upon what he had done and he was ashamed. He wanted to make his father proud, nothing else.

Suddenly Albus heard the sound of running footsteps and raised his gaze as the person suddenly stopped in front of them. Twenty feet away from him he saw Scorpius. The boy looked flushed and he was breathing heavily, looking as if he was both trying to catch his breath as well as coming up with something to say. Albus pushed his father away and took some steps ahead of him.

"Scorpius?"

Behind Albus his father was staring at Scorpius while he without a sound mouthed "Malfoy", amazed that the boy looked so much like his father.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Scorpius said with an uncertain voice and gave the older Potter an intense stare, "I see you are so... I'll leave."

Scorpius had just turned around to hurry away when Albus said "no" with a little bit too much enthusiasm which made both his father and Scorpius turn towards Albus.

"Dad was just about to leave, right?" Albus turned towards his father who tried to look calm.

"Is this your _friend_?" Harry asked and looked towards Scorpius for a split second. "Didn't the two of you get into a fight not long ago?"

"That was ages ago! We hang out all the time," Albus said with a smile and turned to Scorpius for support but the boy just kept his distance and had his poker face on. "So," he turned back to his dad, "he'll make sure I get to the Hospital Wing."

Harry was quiet for a moment and Albus held his breath until his father gave him a smile and ruffled his hair. "Sure," he said. "I should probably get back to work."

Albus let out a relieved sigh. In Harry's mind he came to the conclusion that since he had never had parents he had never really experienced how embarrassing they could be and couldn't really relate to how his son was feeling. But the important thing was that he got to the Hospital Wing and whether it was Harry or a friend who took him there shouldn't matter.

"Well," Harry gave Scorpius a smile, "I'll leave Albus to you. You should come visit during the winter break, Malfoy. The two of you being _friends_." There was a certain ring to the last word, as if he doubted it. Albus didn't hear it. Scorpius did.

After father and son had said their goodbyes the boys started walking towards the hospital wing. At first they were silent and both could feel it being awkward. Albus was filled with questions, like why the hell Scoprius had been running through the corridor, but Scorpius had a posture that made Albus hesitate. Hands in his pockets, shoulders raised and his gaze to the floor, not at all like Scorpius Malfoy.

"You don't look hurt," Scorpius suddenly stated. His voice that broke the tension was so sudden that Albus almost fell over but managed to stay on his feet. Scorpius gave him a questioning look.

"He looks tough but he's a bad fighter. I managed to both bite him and break something. He got what he deserves..." Albus said with a smirk. He thought Scorpius would get what he meant but the boy didn't even give as much as a hint of a smile.

"You should have just walked away. Moffat will try to get his revenge and that won't be pretty."

"How did you know it was Moffat?" Albus stopped.

Scorpius kept walking. "Some bloke was talking about it and I overheard."

"Was that why you came running?"

Albus had started walking again to catch up but before he had Scorpius stopped and turned around. "That was not the reason!"

Albus tried to hide a smile. "Then why were you running?"

Scorpius was trying to come up with something to say. His mouth was constantly opening and closing, as if he was trying to form a word but couldn't come up with which one. Albus couldn't hide the smile any longer and as he flashed his teeth Scorpius hissed at him and turned and walked away.

"Sure, that's why I came running. I was afraid the guy had turned you into pieces and scattered them over the whole castle."

Albus followed him. "You disappointed?"

And then Scoprius said something Albus couldn't really make out. The word was just a whisper and almost a sigh but Albus could almost guess it.

"Relieved."

Scorpius was silent all the way to the Hospital Wing and when Albus walked in the nurse gave him a scolding before she started taking care of his injuries. Apparently he had managed to break the boy's nose and the boy was nothing but complaining and crying when she was trying to fix him up.

"You sure look far weaker than you actually are. A pureblood like him doesn't know what a fistfight is all about. You should know better!" she said and pulled his arm a little harder than was necessary. Albus groaned.

"He asked for it!" Albus said in a try to defend himself but the nurse was far from convinced. "He is always bullying without any good reason and I just got so tired. Everybody was cheering me on!"

"That doesn't make it right. I thought you were a good boy, smart and relaxed. But that goes for you too!" She turned around to face Scorpius who had been standing by the door but he wasn't there. Ablus stood up to see where he had gone but was pushed down to sit on the bed again. "Sit."

Outside the Hospital Wing Scorpius was resting against the wall. He was considering whether or not he should stay or go. He was more confused than ever and he hated it. Why couldn't he just walk away? He had even been _running_ to see if Albus had been alright. It was stupid. Albus was a good fighter, Scorpius knew by firsthand experience. But when that bloke had said that Moffat and Albus had gotten into a fight the first thing that Scoprius could think of was that he was the cause and that Moffat would have used magic. Scorpius didn't really know how Albus was when it came to magic but he would probably not stand a chance against a fourth year.

Scorpius ran a hand through his hair and with a heavy sigh he put his hands in his pockets and walked away.

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><p><strong>And I just have to drop the comment that I had such a hard time writing the Harry-part. I'm currently reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets so I have a hard time imagining him as a grown up... So no comments about him being ooc, kay? XD<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Being sick helps me write so I will be updating this pretty often from now on.**

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><p>"You, sir, are a freak!" Apollo nudged Scorpius arm while they both laughed. Another friend, Cornelius Rafford, was practically gasping for air and doing his best to stay on his chair while he was dying from the laughter.<p>

Scorpius wasn't sure what it was that had made them start the horrid laugh attack, but him admitting he was an attention whore wasn't really making it easier to stop. Apollo kept pointing out how spot on it was and so they just kept laughing.

"So smug! You've been training on that smile haven't you?"

Scorpius just laughed at it without a thought to admit that Apollo actually was right. Cornelius wiped a tear from his eye and was just about to point out that they actually had to eat while they were in the Great Hall when suddenly another voice mixed with their laughs.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here."

The three boys turned to the voice and stared right at Gary Moffat and his friends. His long face was covered in a smug smile telling the three that he was up to no good. Suddenly the three of them found it hard to laugh.

"The munchkin, the leprechaun and the biggest teenybopper of them all." He turned to Cornelius, Apollo and Scorpius in order and stopped when he saw the irritated look in Scorpius grey eyes. Gary smirked.

"Next time you open your mouth, Moffat, try to say something interesting. We were in the middle of something."

Apollo and Cornelius giggled and Scorpius turned back to the dinner on his plate with the plan to just continue his meal in peace and quiet (or laughter) but Gary Moffat had another idea.

"With these two? You cheating on your boyfriend, teenybopper?"

Scorpius knew he should ignore it. One should always ignore a bully. But this time Scorpius acted without listening to that voice in his head which told him to ignore it. He turned around and put his bitch-face on.

"Seriously, Moffat? If you are going to insult me, can't you at least try?"

"Oh, you know me, Malfoy, I don't bully people," Moffat said with a smile and tried to sound convincing. "Ask your Gryffindor-crush about that."

"You're not making any sense. Please shut your gob and walk away before you embarrass yourself."

"Or what? You going to call for help? Oh! I get it. Your boyfriend is your bodyguard. Good thinking. I happen to know he's stronger than he looks. But then, how is he with _the wand_?"

Scorpius took a deep breath, trying to fight the rage. It wasn't as much the things he said but the sound of his voice that triggered the anger. Scorpius hadn't felt like this since that stupid day with the stupid destiny talk. The day he had had enough and actually started a fight with Albus. A day he had almost forgotten.

"I don't know if he is, but I am."

Gary Moffat began laughing with his friends who all were thinking Scorpius hadn't been aware of what "wand" they had been thinking about. Scorpius knew but didn't give a damn. He stood up and with a swift movement he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Moffat whose laugh died. He almost looked scared.

"Maybe you can tell me if I'm right?" Scorpius smiled. The smile he had trained to perfection with just the perfect amount of teeth and charm.

Within seconds the whole hall had gone quiet. Scorpius was standing in the middle of peoples stares with a charming smile in his face. More than one teacher reached the scene almost immediately.

"Mr. Malfoy!" he heard a teacher's sharp voice over the slowly raising sound of the crowds whispers and mumbling. "What are you doing?"

Scorpius looked from the teacher to Moffat. He couldn't help but laugh. The boy didn't really look like he ever had and his skin was practically boiling and bubbling while he was crying from pain. Scorpius knew he was exaggerating. The spell wasn't that painful and was mostly just very horrible to look at.

"You are coming with me," one of the teachers said and took him by the arm. The other teachers were trying to figure out what had happened to Moffat and had already began asking Moffat's friends and Apollo and Cornelius about what happened.

"Catch you later, guys." Scorpius said as he waved and smiled and left the guys behind, dragged away by the teacher.

"I can't believe the amount of fights these days! First you and Mr. Potter, then Mr. Potter and Mr. Moffat and now you and Mr. Moffat? What's gotten into you?" the teacher yelled. She was really upset but her face looked more worried than angry, which made Scorpius actually feel bad over what he had done.

"There's nothing to worry about," Scorpius said and tried to calm her a little, but it didn't work. "Moffat is just being stupid, that's all."

"Don't blame this on him. You are the one who cast that _jinx_, not him. You won't be getting away easy with this. I know you are good guy, Scorpius, but you keep doing bad things. You will be getting detention until Christmas."

"What?" Scorpius knew he deserved it, but detention until Christmas meant no more free-time at all and so he couldn't help but get a little bit upset.

"And your father is here."

Scorpius lost the ability to speak and widened his eyes. His father meant the end of the world. A moment later his father was in the office, eying out every corner of the room before he turned towards Scorpius with a disappointed look in his face. Scorpius tried to come up with a good thing to say but he felt so small. He was suddenly five years old again, feeling like that time he had broken his mother's family vase and his father had made him feel so bad with just one look that Scorpius had been running to apologise to his mother a hundred times.

"I came as fast as I could," Draco began, looking at the professor. "I'm quite busy actually but I thought this was too important." There it was again! The guilt. Scorpius tried to apologise but as soon as he opened his mouth his father raised a hand. "You disappoint me, Scorpius. I thought you had promised to concentrate on your studies this year."

"Yes, father, but-" Scorpius began but was interrupted by his father's stare.

"You are a smart boy, even your professor thinks so and both your mother and I know so. You don't have to prove anything by beating up a kid with your fists or casting spells. Your good grades prove it for you. Ignore what any less intelligent person says. Insults are-"

"-for the weak." Scorpius filled in. His father had told him so a few times and each time it had been when Scorpius had done something wrong.

"Right," Draco said with a short smile without any feelings at all behind it. "But you do know that neither your mother nor I will let you down easy for this. When you get home you can expect a living hell. And that will not be from me." Draco was smart to threaten with his wife. Scorpius was scared to death for what she could be capable off when he had done something wrong. If his father meant the end of the world his mother was hell.

Draco kept coming up with new things that made Scorpius shrink in his seat. At some point they had both forgotten the professor at the desk and it wasn't until she stood up and coughed they both turned to her as if she had just suddenly appeared.

"I will have to leave the both of you alone for now," she said with the hint of a polite smile. "When your father is done with you I want you to get back to your dormitory instantly. Tomorrow you will report to me as soon as classes are over. Goodbye."

She turned to both of the blondes before she walked out of the room. Both of them looked at the door after it was shut. Scorpius was even more afraid of what his father would be capable of saying when no one was there. When his father turned towards him he held his breath.

"Actually I should also get going." It was not at all what Scorpius was expecting so he let out a relieved sigh. Draco took a step closer to his son and crouched in front of him. "I heard what you did to that poor boy," the man put a hand on Scorpius shoulder. "Good job."

The smile that spread upon Draco's face soon infected Scorpius. The father embraced his son and held him close. Scorpius knew he still was in trouble but having his father so close made him calm. His father cared for him.

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><p><strong>I love to write about Scorpius and Draco. I will have to get Draco into the story in the future as well. I love the relationships between parent and child~<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**I can say for sure that this fanfic will be at least 17 chapters. I'm still trying to come up with a good ending though... I'm not good with endings.**

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><p>The first detention wasn't much fun. He had to help the Potions teacher by cleaning every shelf and every corner of the room. By the look of it no one had done it for a decade. The second detention was a little bit nicer since the professor couldn't come up with anything that was "hard enough" and he had to help correct tests in History of Magic and listen to Professor Binns chat on about uninteresting things for hours and hours. Torture, but easy.<p>

The third detention was with the janitor. The scrawny old man was walking Scorpius to the place for his detention while constantly talking about the detention in the woods which he had found very funny. He also kept offering to hang Scorpius from the ankles down in the dungeons as detention which actually scared Scorpius a little. The boy decided to take it as a joke and laugh at it, but there was something in the man's creepy stare that said he wasn't joking.

When the man finally stopped Scorpius felt relieved. No dungeon, no chains and no monsters. It was a closet on the third floor. There weren't many doors in that particular hallway and even though Scorpius passed through at least once or twice a week he had never found the wooden door interesting at all. He hadn't been wrong for thinking that.

"We haven't used this closet for ages now, too dirty I'd say," the janitor said and grinned as he opened the door. "Maybe you can bring it back to use? Actually, you have to. You will keep cleaning here until it's done."

Suddenly Scorpius thought the dungeon-punishment sounded better.

"And let me guess, you will watch like it is some high form of entertainment?" Scorpius sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I wish!" the man chuckled. "But there are other things to take care off. No magic, though! This is punishment. So get to work!"

The man pushed the door open all the way so that Scorpius could see inside. It was impossible to guess how big the closet was as there was only a wall made out of rubbish. Scorpius gasped and the man chuckled. Suddenly he was sure that hanging from his feet would be a lot easier. The janitor pushed Scorpius closer to the wall of things before walking away, still chuckling. The Slytherin watched the man disappear before turning towards his task. He could see a skeleton hand and decided to start with that. He grabbed it, fully aware that it was possible that it would grab back (even though it didn't), and pulled. He wasn't aware though that it would start a chain reaction and soon he would be covered in things and dust and dirt. He crawled away from the closet and the things that was spread out in the hallway while he coughed hysterically and started spitting to get the dirt and dust out of his mouth, and he kept doing so for quite a while, interspersed with a sneeze now and then.

When he could finally breathe normally again he stood up and tried to get some actual cleaning done. The dust had lain to rest upon the things and for each item he moved a new cloud attacked him. After half an hour he was so used to it he didn't even react to it more than some slight coughing. He pulled on the leg of something that must have been a spell gone wrong on a chair and was just going to toss it outside the spall closet when he saw something on the floor that made him let out a terrified cry. Sounding like a little girl he threw himself out of the narrow space, climbing upon the things that had fallen out earlier. He was panting and breathing heavily, standing on all four.

"Is something trying to eat you?"

Scorpius raised his gaze, terrified to see who had caught him in such an embarrassing situation. Green eyes, tousled hair and a gentle smile was all that Scorpius had to see. It's just him, Scorpius thought. Trying to look casual and calmer than he was he got up on his feet, brushed off some dust and turned his back towards the boy.

"Go away," was all that he said. He didn't want anyone to see him work.

"You got detention?" Albus asked while taking a step closer.

"No," Scorpius may have sounded a bit too sarcastic, "I just love to clean. Dirty closets are my favourites."

Albus giggled. Scorpius had returned to his work inside the dark closet and was just about to try and push a trunk out of the room when Albus stepped up and helped by dragging it.

"Don't help! I have to do this by myself."

"But it looks heavy."

Scorpius sighed and rolled his eyes. "But you shouldn't help me."

Albus smiled, still dragging while Scorpius pushed. "I'm doing it because I want to."

"I would never help you. And also, I might get in trouble if you help me."

"Don't worry, I'll take full responsibility."

Scorpius stopped. The trunk was in the hallway, surrounded by the rest of the rubbish, and Scorpius decided to lean against it until he had gotten his breath back. Albus walked around the trunk, smiling slightly, and sat down beside the blonde. For a second Scorpius had thought about making the boy trip but let him sit down without any fuss. The boy was so genuinely nice that it made Scorpius want to do bad things towards him just to watch his reaction, which wasn't a very good thing. Maybe Albus should have been in Hufflepuff instead, the way he did things without expecting anything in return.

"What did you do?" the boy asked as he turned towards Scorpius, still smiling. "To get detention I mean. I haven't seen you for like... days."

"I got into a fight. Nothing big."

"Nothing big?" The smile was gone and replaced with an "are you insane"-face. "You got detention for two weeks! I got away with two days."

Scorpius stared at the green eyed boy, looking as baffled as he felt.

"I thought you didn't know I had gotten detention," Scorpius said.

Albus took a deep breath. Oh snap(e), his face suddenly showed the truth. The boy was a bad liar and he got red all the way to his ears. Scorpius couldn't help but grin at the sight and let out a short giggle.

"Okay, sure, I knew," he finally admitted while pushing away from the trunk. Scorpius stopped him by grabbing his arm and the boy tried to yank it away from him but without succeeding.

"Why would you lie about something like that?" Scorpius had to fight the laughter that wanted to escape his throat.

"No reason," Albus lied.

Scorpius sighed and released his arm. He could see through the lie instantly and decided to drop it just because of that. In his thoughts he was laughing at the embarrassed boy, but deep down he had a nagging feeling that there was something more to it than what met the eye.

They both continued with the cleaning, finding out that there were more creepy things in the closet than they could ever have imagined. The disgusting thing that had made Scorpius yell earlier was gone, which creeped him out even more.

"By the way, Scorpius," Albus said as he was pulling out something furry from under a cupboard, "there was something the nurse said to me the other day that has been bothering me. I don't know if you heard."

"Shoot," Scorpius encouraged. He wasn't sure he did want to know what was going through that boy's head but wasn't very sure he liked the silence either.

"She said that Moffat didn't know how to fight because he's a spoiled pureblood. I just thought... when we were fighting," Albus sounded nervous, as if he wasn't sure if he should actually bring it up, "you were pretty good. I always thought you were a spoiled pureblood so how come you are better than him?"

Scorpius let out a surprised laugh. He both felt and looked insulted which instantly made Albus try to apologise. Scorpius quieted him by a swift move with the hand.

"I am not spoiled! Maybe if you were to compare to some other wizards, yeah, but not when you compare it to Moffat. And he is a weakling by nature and thinks that he can get his will with just the use of his mouth."

"So you are not spoiled? Don't you live in a mansion?" Albus looked fascinated.

"That's not the point. I don't get whatever I want and my parents raised me to be a good kid. Don't try to compare me with someone like Moffat."

"Interesting," Albus mumbled. Scoropius wondered what kind of person Albus had thought he was.

"Haven't you been spoiled? I mean your father is like... famous."

"I wouldn't say that. My mother always makes sure we do our chores and you know... stuff like that."

"The teachers spoil you, though," Scorpius said and snickered.

"They do not!" Albus loudly put down a kettle on top of the trunk.

"They do! I didn't even actually fight and I got two weeks of detention! They just assume I was the one to start both this and the other fight. I'm always the bad one according to the teachers."

There was a short silence. Scorpius was resting against the wall beside the door while Albus used the trunk to sit on. They had eye contact and the silence was as if they were trying each other out. Who would turn away first?

"Unlike you I didn't use a jinx," Albus finally said and Scorpius averted his gaze. He lost.

"So just because I'm a great wizard I get a greater punishment? Great. Brilliant."

Albus opened his mouth to say something to calm him down, but just the look on his face made it obvious he couldn't come up with anything. Scorpius let out a laugh and pushed himself away from the wall and closer to Albus.

"Don't worry, I'm not angry or anything." Scorpius reached out and patted Albus' shoulder. The boy looked up and their eyes locked. For a short moment they just froze, staring at each other. A moment of calm and silence. Scorpius didn't know how long they could've stood there but before any of the two had time to realise Scorpius had heard footsteps and the wheezing that could only be the janitor breathing. Without a second thought Scorpius grabbed Albus' shoulders, turned the boy around and pushed him so that he would start running. Apparently the boy had also heard the footsteps as he continued to run and by the time the janitor was by the closet Albus were already long gone.

"Working hard, I see," the janitor said with a sarcastic tone in his voice. Scorpius ignored it.

"I think I'll be done by tomorrow," he made a gesture towards the doorway. The space was practically empty and actually clean and outside of the closet there were two piles. One of things that was broken or just dirt and one with things that was going to be put back inside. The janitor snorted.

"Fine," he said and sounded disappointed. "Finish this tomorrow then. Go back to your dorm."


	9. Chapter 9

**I actually have to apologise for the delay. I lost my USB stick for about a week and then I was occupied for another one... but now there is nothing to stop me from uploading! Hope people enjoy this chapter.**

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><p>Scorpius didn't finish the next day. Even though he did cheat a little and used magic to make some of the items lighter he couldn't clean out the closet as quickly as he had thought. He refused to accept the fact that it was probably because Albus had helped him that made him think he would finish the day after. But the closet was clean soon enough and Scorpius had actually found a couple of interesting things, amongst that a pocket watch he had decided to keep by himself, without telling anyone. Something for the trouble wouldn't be too much trouble, would it?<p>

As the days progressed Scorpius started longing for the break more than ever. The teachers used him for practically everything and he didn't have much time for anything else than classes, studying and eating. After the conversation with his father he felt even more obligated to get good grades than ever before.

When it came to friends he only met Apollo, Cornelius and a few others when they were studying or eating. He had run into Albus once in the corridor and had only had time to say "hi" before having to rush off again. He could probably have taken a few minutes to speak with the boy, but it felt awkward and so he preferred to pretend to be even busier than he was. He was nervous because he remembered what Harry Potter had said and the more he thought about that invitation the more he thought that Albus remembered it and had taken it seriously so that he would nag Scorpius to come visit. Scorpius didn't like that idea. What in the world could he possibly be doing in the Potter house? And his father wouldn't probably like the idea. No, it was all just a scenario he would much rather avoid.

"I've been looking for you," a voice said and broke the silence. Scorpius had been walking through an abandoned hallway on his way to the Divination classroom up in the tower when he had been stopped. He hesitated to turn around. Of course he knew that behind him, just a few yards, stood Albus Potter with a face that could best be described as a worried puppy. Frowning and staring with his big, green eyes. But Scorpius did turn around and put a fake smile upon his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry," Scorpius answered. Behind him was in fact the dark haired boy with a worried expression. So predictable.

"I can walk with you," the boy stated. There was nothing Scorpius could say to that to refuse that wouldn't sound mean. Scorpius had never cared about such things before and he wouldn't do it now either.

"No, I'd prefer to be alone."

Albus who had taken some steps toward him suddenly stopped. He tried to force a smile but only managed to look sad. That boy really did wear his feelings on his sleeve. Scorpius sighed and tried to make the faint smile look gentler.

"I'm sorry but having detention all the time makes it hard for me to have any lone time. Come back when detention is over."

"It will be Christmas then," Albus said and looked if possible even sadder.

"Yes, I guess so," Scorpius tried to look a little concerned. "Then I guess we have all the time in the world after the break."

"Aren't you coming over during the break?"

DAMNIT. Scorpius had not seen that one coming. He should have, but he hadn't. Now he was feeling desperate and was fighting the urge to just run away. He laughed a little nervously and scratched his ear.

"I don't know, I hadn't thought about it." He took a step backwards. "But I really have to get going now, so I won't be late. You understand, right? Catch you later, Albus!"

Scorpius began walking away. He hurried his pace but could still hear Albus mumble some sad words behind his back. "You can just tell me if you don't want to see me." Scorpius didn't want to take it to heart, but he really did feel bad about it.

Maybe it was that comment, maybe it wasn't, but Scorpius didn't see Albus at all until the end of the semester. He managed to practically hide himself each and every time he saw Albus getting close in the hallway. It was only that one class they shared together, but then it wasn't hard to arrive late with friends and leave at once with friends.

Scorpius felt like it was a little bit mean to ignore him just because he didn't want to give him a flat out "NO" but Scorpius didn't know how to handle it. He carried on with life and detention and studies until it was finally over. It wasn't until he was on the train and was letting out a heavy sigh that he actually felt relaxed for the first time.

"Seriously, Scorpius, when was the last time you slept?" Apollo giggled.

In the compartment were only Scorpius, Apollo and Cornelius who really stretched out and took up a lot more space than was needed for the three boys. Apollo was chewing on a chocolate frog when he asked the question and it wasn't that very odd. Scorpius was close to falling asleep as he was taking up three seats, lying on them with his hands under his head and closed eyes.

"I do sleep during night, I just don't sleep well. It's been a living hell these two weeks," he complained.

"You've got no one else to blame than yourself, mate!" Cornelius said with a satisfied laugh.

"Don't remind me. I'm trying to forget that incident."

"Just don't fall asleep. I've got a pocket-sized wizard chess with me!" Apollo said with excitement. He started looking through a bag for his game, but neither Scorpius nor Cornelius actually said they would play him.

As Apollo was trying his hardest to find his game the door slid open. None of them bothered to even look at it. Whoever it was could just stroll along and find another place to sit. But the door didn't shut and when Scorpius opened his eyes he realised that it wasn't just someone looking for a place to sit. It was Albus Potter, clenching the doorframe with an open mouth, trying to come up with something to say.

"I've been looking for you," he finally said. Scorpius sat up and tried to rub the tiredness out of his eyes. "I haven't been able to speak with you anything so I thought I'd ask you now. Will you come over?"

Scorpius felt his heart stop. It was probably just a feeling of his heart stopping, but if someone would have told him his heart had skipped a beat that day he wouldn't have questioned it. His whole inside turned to ice and he gave his friends a quick glance. They both had turned their attention to Albus.

"Come over?" Cornelius asked. He had a confused smirk across his lips and tried to glance at Scorpius in a way to ask for an explanation. Scorpius tried to come up with something to say but had lost his ability to speak. He had no good explanation. He didn't want Cornelius to know too much and he didn't even know if he would ever be capable of explaining to Apollo that he had been invited to the Potter household.

"Will you?" Albus said and seemed to totally ignore the other ones in the room. Scorpius took a deep breath and did the same.

"I, I don't know," Scorpius forced himself to say. "I haven't spoken with my father yet. I'll send you a letter when I have."

Albus lingered in the opening for quite a while and didn't actually leave until the lady dragged her trolley filled with candy through the corridor and Albus suddenly walked away. Scorpius and Cornelius bought some candy and she carried on. Apollo was busy munching on his chocolate frogs (like always) and it was Cornelius who decided to postpone his candy-eating for a minute to question Scorpius.

"Come over?" he repeated the question from earlier.

Scorpius laughed and tried to ignore it, but the intense stare he got from Cornelius made him give in within seconds.

"It's just," he began and took some seconds to rephrase a couple of time in his head, "he invited me over during the break." Was it really that hard to say? Yes. And his friends confirmed why.

The frog Apollo was holding escaped his grip and made a jump for it and escaped to somewhere underneath a seat, using only three legs. Apollo didn't even care, and that boy loved the stupid candy. He let out a surprised laugh and Cornelius joined him.

"I really didn't expect that. When's the wedding?" Cornelius nudged Apollo who gave him a laugh as response.

"Stop it, seriously guys! Moffat is irritating enough when he goes on like that!" Scorpius hissed.

"Oh, relax!" Apollo said and opened a new frog. "But seriously though, it is weird. You are not going are you?"

"And what do you care, Apollo?" Scorpius said and raised an eyebrow. Apollo's smile died a little. He was a nice guy, yes, but Apollo did often act a lot less nice than he actually was. He was afraid that if other students from Slytherin knew what a hippie he could be they would bully him for it. Not even Scorpius knew how much of a hippie he could be and Scorpius knew far more about him than anybody else in Slytherin.

"Seriously, are you going? He's from Gryffindor, and a Potter at that!" Cornelius laughed at the idea.

"No, I'm not going! I don't even dare to tell my dad."

"Then why didn't you say that?" Apollo said with a teasing smile and a twitching leg of a chocolate frog between his lips.

"Shut up," Scorpius hissed.

His friends did try to tease him a lot more and they didn't actually stop until the train stopped back at King's Cross Station. Scorpius hurried to say goodbye to them and rushed to find his father and mother. They hugged and kissed him a lot. A thirteen year old boy wouldn't very much fancy to get such a welcome in public but Scorpius had missed them as well and let them have their moment at the station.

It was good to be home.

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><p><strong>Please tell me what you think, especially about the OC's. I don't very much fancy making up characters when writing fanfics but the lack of info about Next Generation kind of forced me to do it if I wanted them to have any friends... So it would be kind of people would just post a comment whether you think they are okay or if you hate them or if I should change anything about it.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter is so much... fluff. I love that. I hope people enjoy it! **  
><strong>And I'm taking it slow with updates right now because I have to come up with a good ending for this thing... So I don't want to run out of chapters.<strong>

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><p>Winter break was over. Students flooded Hogwarts and gifts was swapped to left and right for those who hadn't send them at Christmas. Scorpius who had already opened all his gifts at Christmas Day, even those from friends, felt a little left out when people kept thanking each other from left to right. At Christmas he had been very surprised to wake up and see the wrapped broomstick at the end of his bed. His father had made sure more than once that he would not get that broom so Scorpius had no idea what had made him change his mind. He had thanked his parents so many times they had even had to threaten him that they would take it back if he wouldn't shut his mouth.<p>

But one thing was bugging Scorpius when he got back. Like planned he had never visited Albus. During the break he had gotten lots of letters from the boy which had been a lot of trouble for Scorpius. He didn't want his father to know who sent them and when Lucius was around he was even more scared that they would find out. In each and every letter Albus kept nagging about "will you come over?" and "dad asked if you will come or not" and so on. Scorpius didn't send even one letter back, even though he did write a few to his friends in Slytherin. He even got a letter from Rose that he sent a short answer too.

Scorpius had been back in school for three days and nothing was out of the ordinary when Albus Potter suddenly arrived to the scene. It was in the library and the green eyes was staring Scorpius down as the boy was leaning over the table that Scorpius was studying at.

"Didn't you get my letters?" There was a hint of irritation in the voice but he looked completely calm. Scorpius only took a second to look at his face before turning back to the book in front of him.

"I did," he answered. Lying and saying he hadn't gotten any letters was very tempting, but Scoprius figured that it wouldn't help and would probably be seen through pretty easily.

"I didn't get any answer."

"That's because I didn't send any," Scorpius said with a heavy sigh. Albus seemed insulted and snorted. Scorpius raised his gaze once more and expected the boy to look irritated or insulted but was just looking calmly at Scorpius. "Don't take it personally."

"You could've just told me you didn't want to come." Albus sat down at the table.

Scorpius turned his attention towards his book again, trying to avoid having to answer. The book was not even interesting and he was just reading it to pass time until Apollo and Cornelius were to come to the library to study with him. Having Albus sit down didn't feel like much of a good sign and he was worried that he was going to get some kind of friendly scolding. It turned out that Scorpius was to be very surprised.

"But whatever," the tone in Albus' voice was nice and sincere, "that's in the past."

Scorpius couldn't stop himself from looking up to see if Albus looked as nice as he sounded, and of course he did. He was smiling softly and leaned his chin at the back of his hands. Scorpius was close to asking if it really was that easy but as Albus continued speaking Scorpius came to the conclusion that it probably was that easy.

"I've got something for you. It has been Christmas after all. It's in my room. Should I go get it?"

Scorpius stopped breathing, for several reasons. The first thing was a short moment of bad conscience as he had not even spent a single thought on getting a gift for Albus. The second reason was that he was not very comfortable with the idea of getting a gift from Albus in front of people. Apollo and Cornelius could arrive at any moment and Scorpius did not want to get teased by them.

"How about we meet in a classroom?" Scorpius suggested. There were not many places for people to be alone at Hogwarts and an empty classroom had to do. No one would see them there.

Albus looked a little bit troubled for a second but shrugged when he saw the gentle smile on Scorpius face. The smile was faked. But they decided which classroom and within just fifteen minutes Scorpius was sitting on top of a table and was waiting for Albus to get there. He got a few minutes to just think about the situation. Since before the break Scorpius had felt very uncomfortable to have Albus in his life. Their friendship had all been a misunderstanding from the beginning anyway. Maybe he should just tell Albus about that? Scorpius wasn't very sure if he could call their relationship an actual friendship but whatever it was he wasn't very sure he liked it. He never wanted to call Albus Potter his _friend_.

Suddenly the door slid slightly ajar but no one entered. Scorpius rolled his eyes and told the person to come in. It was Albus, like expected, carrying not just one but three gifts. They were all wrapped in different papers and had bows on them, showing how much care had been put on wrapping them. Scorpius got a bad conscience. Three gifts and he hadn't even one for Albus.

"Here, take this first," Albus said and gave him one of the gifts. When Scorpius unwrapped it there was a box of chocolate frogs. Albus giggled and sat down beside Scorpius on the table. "My mum insisted I gave chocolate frogs for all my friends so dad told me to bring this to you."

"Tell them I'm thankful," Scorpius said with a hesitant smile.

Albus shoved another gift onto Scorpius. It was soft and when the paper had fallen to the floor Scorpius held out a green knitted sweater with a golden "S" on the chest. Scorpius gave Albus a questioning look and realised that the dark haired boy was actually blushing slightly.

"You don't have to wear it, seriously," he said and made Scorpius lower his arms. "I just kind of told grandma Molly that I didn't have anything to give you and well... she knitted this. She gave me one almost like it. It's red with a yellow A on. I get one every year."

"Right," Scorpius snickered.

"But that was on Christmas Day, and just the day afterwards I got this! I've been longing to see your expression when you open it." Albus sounded excited and leaned forward and waited eagerly for Scorpius to open the last gift.

Scorpius was still just a kid and the way Albus was so excited transferred to Scorpius. He wanted to just rip the paper away from the flat gift but suppressed that urge and instead he took it slow. He enjoyed the attention and suspension. When he had finally taken off the ribbon and carefully removed the wrapping paper he held the gift in front of him. At first he was disappointed. It was just a framed picture, but just seconds later he realised what picture it was.

"A signed picture of Jericho Withers of the Chudley Cannons?" Scorpius hands were practically shaking. Scorpius wasn't very proud that he was such a huge fan of the Chudley Cannons. They had gotten better with the years and that was probably only because of the new coach and their seeker Jericho Withers but they were still not very good. "Thank you!" Scorpius said and wrapped an arm over Albus shoulder and gave him an actual hug. He was too happy to care about his rule that Scorpius Malfoy doesn't hug anyone. "How did you get this?"

"Having a famous father has its benefits," Albus said with a humble smile. He let his arm slide over Scorpius back to half heartedly hug him back.

"Did you meet him yourself?" Scorpius held out the picture in front of them.

"Yes, it was so cool! You should come next time. He's really nice."

"Promise! Next time you have to bring me!"

"Of course! You know what, Uncle Ron always bring me to games. I should tell him you are a Cannon-fan so you can come too."

Scorpius had a firm grip on the picture in his hand. Albus leaned against him and was looking down at the photograph. Jericho was using the same pose as on most photographs. Putting a hand on one hip and pointing a finger up in the air while he was giving his most charming smile. He got tired of the smile and pose after a while, for this was of course a magical photo and so it moved. He gave his jaw a little massage, giggled and went back to the pose. Scorpius smiled back at him.

"Seriously, this is like the best gift ever! And I mean it. I even got the broomstick I wanted from my parents and this is still better."

"But shouldn't that be the best gift? If you train hard I promise that you will be able to become even better than Jericho Withers."

Scorpius laughed a little at the idea. He wasn't totally against it and had often dreamt about being a professional Quidditchplayer but he had never actually considered it a possibility. He wasn't even in the team this year. Albus tried to encourage him to pick it up again after the summer and Scorpius actually thought it wasn't such a bad idea.

"Thank you, Albus," he whispered so that the boy could barely hear.

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><p><strong>Btw, if you have any kind of wish for something I should write then feel free to tell me! I'd really appreciate it~<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm so sorry for the hiatus. To be honest I haven't written anything on this story for a couple of months but I do have some chapters laying around so I'll keep posting until I run out. Then I'll try to come up with an ending. Just so you know. Thanks to all of you who are sticking around!**

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><p>Scorpius had managed to avoid the detail that he hadn't got any gift for Albus. Albus was too thrilled about the idea of bringing Scorpius with him on a game that Scorpius had gotten away without even having to bring it up. But that didn't mean he wasn't troubled. Scorpius didn't like that he owed Albus something and was desperate to come up with something to give him. He was thinking about asking his mother to send him something but didn't want to risk them asking why. And nothing could compare to the photograph of Jericho Withers.<p>

"What do you give someone that has given you something that is far more amazing than anything in the world?" Scorpius asked Apollo and Cornelius while they were sitting at a table in the Slytherin common room. Apollo was playing with a chocolate frog that Scorpius had given him from the box he had received.

"Your soul, maybe?" Cornelius asked as he turned the page in the book in front of him.

"Seriously, guys," Scorpius poked Cornelius in the back of his head. "I have to come up with _something_."

"What about a box of chocolate frogs?" Apollo suggested with a smirk.

"It's not for you, mate," Scorpius face palmed.

"But that doesn't mean you can't buy it for me, does it?"

"Seriously, your sudden love for that candy will make you fat. You've already gained a pound or two, haven't you?" Scorpius snickered.

"That's mean."

Apollo put the chocolate frog in his mouth, crossed his arms and rested his head against his table. While he was busy sulking Cornelius actually tried to help Scorpius and when they were just on the verge to get completely unserious when suddenly the fourth chair at the table was pulled out. They were expecting to see some friend but instead the brown haired Gary Moffat sat down and rested on his elbow. He had a big smirk on his face and looked like he was up to no good.

"Hello fellows," he said. Scorpius turned his face away. "Seriously, I'm sorry for the things I said before the break. No hard feelings for casting a jinx on me, really. But I have to ask you about _the plan_."

Apollo suddenly straightened his back and turned towards Scorpius. It took a few seconds for Scorpius to realise what that "plan" was. When he remembered the rumour he suddenly froze.

"How is it going? I don't know the details but you should've made some kind of progress."

"What plan are you speaking of?" Scorpius said without even looking at the boy.

"You know!"

"Go away, Moffat," Scorpius encouraged.

"Come on, I want to know!"

Scorpius let out a sigh and stood up. Moffat seemed surprised when he walked away. Cornelius just shrugged and Apollo tried to slide away.

Moffat kept coming around, mentioning "the plan" and made Scorpius even more irritated by the boy's mere existence. Then one day when he was standing in the hallway, waiting for the lesson to begin, Albus managed to catch Scorpius before he had the chance to sneak off.

Apollo stood next to Scorpius, accompanied by Cornelius and sneaked towards them as they spoke. Scorpius could see it in the corner of his eye and so the conversation with Albus was even less natural than any other they had ever had in public. It would have been okay. Albus should have just lingered a minute or two longer until he had to carry on and get to his classroom. Scorpius would get away with maybe a question from Cornelius and a bad joke from Apollo. That would have been okay. But that didn't happen.

"Hey there, blondie!" The voice of the devil had interrupted them. He shoved his body next to theirs, making Albus take a step back and give him a frightened stare while Scorpius rolled his eyes. It couldn't have been worse.

"Go away, Moffat."

As Scoprius said the boy's name Apollo reacted and turned to them. Albus looked over his shoulder and took a further step backwards, slowly making his escape. Moffat grinned. He was followed by his usual crew and some other fourth years that were probably making their way to their classroom.

"Come on, Malfoy, I'm didn't mean to disturb you," he said with a smooth voice.

"Yes you were, so just go," Scorpius said with a cold voice. He was usually pretty patient and would fake a nice tone just to get over with things, but lately he was always fighting the urge to hit Moffat in the face whenever he was around.

"You are being mean. But come on now, Malfoy! How long will you keep this charade up?" Moffat nodded towards Albus who suddenly stopped from his slow escape. "I'm getting tired of waiting."

"Please just shut up and go away, Moffat!" Scorpius clenched his fists. If he didn't go soon he would get his face rearranged.

"What a foul mouth. Makes me want to punish you," he said and emphasized the punish. "Hey, Potter! I know a secret. Do you know why he's tolerating you?" He turned towards Albus who seemed to get a whole inch shorter.

"Tolerating?" he stuttered. Moffat grinned while Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Don't listen to him, Albus."

"Come on now! You actually thought he wanted to have you around?" Moffat looked surprised. "No, not at all. I heard that it would be the prank of the year. I'm not sure of the details but I heard it involved earning your trust, getting your father around and something about a bowl of intestines."

"What?" Albus laughed but didn't manage to make it sound sincere. He gave Scorpius a nervous glance which made Scorpius nervous as well. This was not good. Albus was falling for the lie!

"Don't listen to him, Albus! He's just making things up." Scorpius said in a try to convince him that it was in fact just a lie. It barely sounded like a plan and never in the world like a plan that he would come up with. He had far more class than that!

"Am I? I've heard you brag about this plan over and over in the common room. Nerissa thought it was a little mean of you, but a good laugh is worth waiting for, right? But I'm tired of waiting. You should just turn him into something unnatural right here and now."

"Scorpius! I thought I could trust you!" Scorpius closed his eyes and made a second into an eternity. Albus would listen to Moffat but not him? Maybe he didn't know Albus as well as he thought he did. When the eternity had to end he tried to sound as calm as possible when he spoke. He probably managed to do it.

"It's Moffat! Don't listen to him."

"I've heard about the plan as well," Nerissa sneaked up from behind Moffat. What was she doing here? Suddenly a few other Slytherin students joined in and agreed about having heard of the plan. All those who did was involved with Moffat in one way or another. But suddenly Cornelius mumbled something about hearing the rumour when suddenly Albus pushed Scorpius into the wall.

"I bloody trusted you! How could I have been so stupid to think you could've changed?"

Scorpius couldn't really grasp what had happened. Not only had his head hit the stonewall and he was a little bit disoriented but he had never expected Albus to do that. He had never thought that Albus would trust other Slytherin students before him. Whatever relationship they had they actually did meet and talk a lot. Scorpius would actually be able to claim that he knew Albus pretty darn well. He would have thought that Scorpius had earned more trust than that. But within a moment he had remembered all the things he had done during their years at Hogwarts. From the first smartass comment to the first charm he had used on him and the time he had locked him in the girls' bathroom. No wonder Albus didn't trust him this time either. It would have been so like him to do this just for a good laugh. Weird that the thought hadn't even occurred to him this whole time.

"You're just quiet. Piss off."

Albus pushed him a second time, but not even closely as hard. Scorpius just stumbled a little and leaned against the wall. Albus rushed off and disappeared around a corner. Moffat knew that it wasn't a good idea to linger around Scorpius and started walking with all his classmates following his example. He was laughing loudly and said something about "you should see your face" to Scorpius when he left him behind, but Scorpius didn't really care. He would get his revenge on Moffat later.


	12. Chapter 12

**I have some sad news. **

**My flashdrive died about a month ago. Sadly that was where I had about three chapters of this fanfic (and some other important stuff but that's not related). Those chapters were pretty important for the story and I was actually kinda proud over one of them... But there's no use moping. This will probably help me in coming up with an ending for this fanfic. I'm so happy that there are a lot of people who are following this story! If there are any things you would like me to include in this story I'd be pleased to hear them! **

**And I'll apologise beforehand as I haven't read this chapter for like ages and I just feel like updating.. If you find any mayor screw-ups just tell me!**

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><p>"He's acting weird," Lily mumbled. She was sitting next to her oldest brother, James, in the sofa in the Gryffindor common room. He had been able to claim one of the sofas closest to the fire and Lily had managed to catch him when he wasn't surrounded by his friends.<p>

"Who?" James sighed and didn't even look at his sister.

"Albus of course!" she said and pulled her brother's sleeve. He turned to her but didn't look convinced at all.

"Why would he be acting weird? Doesn't he always act weird?" James smirked.

"Come on!" Lily leaned against her brother. "He's been ignoring us..."

"He always ignores us," James interrupted.

"... he keeps to himself..."

"He always keeps to himself."

"Stop interrupting! I'm serious," Lily pouted.

"Come on, I'm just messing with you," James said with a playful smile and ruffled her hair and pulled her into a hug.

"But seriously, he's so withdrawn. It's not like him."

"Lily," James said and looked his sister in her eyes, "you have to remember that Albus is a teenager. They act weird sometimes."

"You are a teenager too."

"But unlike other teenagers I'm awesome." James smirked and flicked his sister on her nose. She giggled lightly.

The next day when Lily had said good morning to Albus and he barely noticed her she couldn't help but start to worry again. Albus was in a world of his own and it worried Lily. Something must have triggered it. If James wouldn't care about it then she had to find her cousin and ask her for help instead. Rose was cleaver and she knew Albus better than his brother.

As expected Lily managed to find her cousin in the library. She was engaging herself into a book about the unusual uses of usual herbs. Her untidy, practically crazy, red hair was tied into a ponytail and she had glasses at the tip of her nose.

"Oh Lily!" she said with a smile upon her freckled face when Lily sat down in front of her. She pushed the book a little further in front of her as to show that she had time to talk with her cousin.

"Can I ask you about Albus?" Lily didn't beat around the bush.

"Oh? What about him?" Rose closed the book. This was interesting.

The little girl took a peak over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't around and then she leaned forward. Rose copied her movements.

"He's been weird these last couple of days, hasn't he? Suddenly he barely notices the world around. Usually he would make time to stop and talk with me and ask if everything was okay or if I needed help with homework but this morning he barely noticed me and when he did he just mumbled a hello."

"Are you sure? I haven't seen him lately."

"I'm sure! And isn't it weird that he hasn't been with you? Aren't you guys pretty close?"

"Maybe," Rose took a second to think. "But he spends most of his time with Scorpius so it's not that weird."

"Scorpius Malfoy? Weird. He's been sitting in the common room most of the time."

And that was all it took for Rose to get what Lily was trying to say. If Albus wasn't acting like himself and wasn't spending his time with Scorpius then the most reasonable explanation would be that Scorpius was the source of the problem. Rose tried to explain it to her cousin but the girl didn't really see how it was connected. But they both decided to find Scorpius and question him if he knew what it was all about before going to Albus.

They found the blonde by the Quidditch pitch. It wouldn't have been their first guess but they had been in luck. They had asked the first Slytherin student they had met and it was a polite girl who said that he had gone with a few friends to watch the practice. When Rose and Lily got to the stands Scorpius didn't even seem to notice them.

"Excuse me," Rose said and the six boys that were sitting on the benches turned towards them. "Do you have a moment, Scorpius?"

Scorpius stood up and climbed over his friends legs as his friends started teasing him by whistling and cheering him on. When Scorpius reached the two girls his cheeks was red and Lily couldn't help but giggle a little. Scorpius gave her an icy stare that made her quit.

Rose led them to the backside of the stands where they wouldn't be overheard. She didn't care much if anyone heard them talk but she guessed that Scorpius would prefer if it was more secret.

"What did you do to Albus?" she said without any hesitation. The smaller girl who was holding a firm grip around Rose's arm repeated the question like a little echo.

Scorpius got defensive at once and crossed his arms while he looked utterly irritated. His stern eyes made Lily cling a little closer to her cousin. It was her first time being close to Scorpius so she had no idea what he was capable of doing.

"I didn't do anything, Rose. It was just a rumour!"

"So it was you?"

"I said no, it wasn't. It's Albus' fault he is stupid enough to believe in Moffat rather than me."

Lily pulled Rose's sleeve. "Who's Moffat?"

"Isn't that the guy both Albus and you got in a fight with?" Rose looked from Lily to Scorpius who was nodding in agreement.

"Yes. I really have no idea why Albus would believe in him rather than me. Okay I do. There was others there as well who agreed with Moffat. But that's none of my business. It's not my problem if he's sulking."

That was it for Rose. She released herself from her cousin's grip and took a step closer to Scorpius and was probably taller than she had ever been before. He face was as calm and pretty as ever but there was a gleam in her eyes that was horrifying and dangerous.

"It is your problem. Why? Because he is my cousin and best friend. If he feels bad I find it my duty to make him happy again. My guess is that you are the only way to make him feel better so that makes it your problem. You get that?"

Scorpius gave her a quick nod. She gave him a gentle smile, still with the gleam in her eyes. Her voice became a little bit nicer.

"I'm not sure whatever it is that made Albus care for you in the first place and I've already told you that I'm not interested in finding out the reason. But even though Albus think you have deceived him he does still care about you, otherwise he wouldn't be acting the way he is. Don't let him down and just talk to him. Force him to listen to your explanation and if you are honest he will believe you. Even if you don't want to do it for him or your friendship, do it for all of us who have to see Albus being depressed."

Lily was back to Rose's side and was nodding in agreement. Scorpius was at a loss for words and Rose just gave him a victorious smile before she turned around and walked away with her arm around her cousin.

"Will he really do it?" Lily said and had a worried look on her face. "He is a Slytherin."

"Rose, it doesn't matter what house he's in."

"But aren't Slytherin's egoistic? That's what your father told me."

"Just because one is in Slytherin doesn't mean they are exactly alike. Are you just like everybody else in Gryffindor?" Rose smiled.

"No," Lily said.

"He may be a Slytherin but I believe he will do the right thing. And don't listen to everything my dad says."


	13. Chapter 13

**A new chapter! And this time I've taken my time to re-write parts of it. So it is a bit better written than other chapters may be. **

**Enjoy.**

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><p>"You haven't spoken with him yet."<p>

Scorpius didn't even bother to turn around. He knew who it was and he was not interested in the lecture he was about to be given. He knew that it was Rose Weasley behind him and he knew what she was speaking about. Or more like who she was speaking about. Instead he just kept walking, trying to ignore her. Maybe she would feel out of place down in the dungeons? But when Scorpius hurried down the stairs she was still two steps behind him.

"I'm not doing it, Rose," he finally said and hurried his pace.

He could hear her moaning behind his back and he could imagine the kind of face she did. He knew she thought he was being troublesome and he knew very well that she didn't really fancy running after him and nagging him about... _him_. But Scorpius fancied the idea of speaking with _him _less. It was all so stupid and if _he_ was going to act all stupid over it, then fine! Scorpius wasn't going to bother.

Rose had another idea.

"Just tell him you're sorry!" She ran up to him and tried to look him in the face. He kept his gaze at the far end of the corridor, trying his best to ignore her. "He's being really depressing! He tries to act normal and all but he's really bad at it. He's constantly thinking about _something_."

"I know you think that something is me," he said without turning his gaze, "but I don't care. He can think about me however the much he wants. I'm gorgeous, I know, but I don't have time to bother with him."

"Scorpius, wait!"

"No. Leave me alone!"

Rose grabbed his shoulder and yanked him to a stop. Looking as insulted as he felt he finally turned his head towards her, instantly losing part of the anger that filled him as she looked so innocent. But then she pointed back a few steps down the hallway and Scorpius looked that way.

"You walked pass the classroom."

Scorpius Malfoy was not blushing at that moment. He was simply turning a bit red, feeling utterly embarrassed. He mumbled some excuse as he walked past the girl and hurried inside the classroom. Rose giggled behind him and made it even worse.

He took a seat in the very back. He was thinking tactically. Rose Weasley would obviously take a seat in the front and he would be able to get far away from her and that giggling and nagging all that made her irritating at that moment. It was not as if Scorpius didn't like her. She was just very irritating. Though the plan hadn't been waterproof from the beginning and soon the redheaded girl sat down next to him, grinning like fool.

"Shouldn't the pet be closer to the teacher?"

But Rose only giggled and shook her head.

During the lesson Rose tried to keep _him_ the subject of their conversation. As if _he_ had anything to do with the potion they were making. Rose knew exactly how to do it and so she wasn't spending too much time thinking about it and spent more time trying to convince Scorpius that he had to talk to _him_. Scorpius tried to ignore it and change the subject but failed and decided to do something drastic. He put an ingredient in the cauldron that he knew would make the whole potion fail, just to make her concentrate on something else. Rose panicked and tried to fix it and as planned she didn't talk more about _him_ for the time being.

It didn't occur to Scorpius that he might have risked their grades just to make her shut up about him until Rose almost started pulling out her own hair in a silent panic attack, wishing that the teacher wouldn't look their way and see the purple smoke. By the end of the lesson Scorpius didn't know how Rose did it but she had saved their potion. Apparently she had read the book so many times that she knew what to put in the potion to make it normal again.

Over all it was actually quite fascinating how engaged Rose was in her mission to convince Scorpius that talking to the boy was the right thing. She had such an energy and eagerness to her way of speaking and being able to put _him_ in every single conversation was really impressing. And if it weren't for the fact that it was the only reason she kept hanging around him he would have probably enjoyed it. He really liked to hang out with Rose. He wouldn't deny that. She kept him company to such an extent that during dinner one day a friend of Scorpius asked if they were dating.

But anyone, even Rose Weasley, will eventually grow tired of such a mission. When she was close to giving up she could only see two possibilities. Using a unforgivable curse wouldn't be to her favour so she resorted to one last thing.

"What will it take for me to just make you see him?"

They were in the library and Rose was just about to sit down on the opposite side of the table from Scorpius. Scorpius only opened the book they used for the charms class, his quill and a parchment and started to study.

"Please don't ignore me!" Rose leaned forward.

Scorpius tried his best to ignore her but he could practically feel her gaze. The text about the differences in charms and dark charms was even harder to read. He was not interested in it to begin with and her staring wasn't making it easier. How was she capable of not opening a book when she was in the library? She used to be such a swot. She really cared about this.

"You won't even have to speak with him!"

With those words Scorpius lowered his quill and looked at her. Her blue eyes seemed even more intense than usual.

"You know that the more you nag me the less I feel like doing it?"

"But at some point you will get so irritated with me that you will do it. That's good enough for me," she said with a smile and leaned her chin on the table. The tone in her voice had changed and her eyes had softened. Speaking with her seemed to always calming her down, unlike ignoring her. But then again she also looked completely sure that her plan would work and even though Scorpius had no idea if she was as stubborn as she seemed to claim or not he feared that she might be right.

"So if I did this for you," Scorpius closed the book, "you will owe me one?"

"Yes!" Rose sat up straight. Had it really been that easy from the beginning? "So you will do it?" She looked like a little like a puppy as she jumped up with a huge smile on her face.

"Sure. But don't think that he will want to talk to me."

Scorpius really didn't expect that _he_ would want to speak with him and thought that Rose would have to convince him the same way as Scorpius. He was very wrong. Very wrong. It was just later that same day that Rose had sent Scorpius a message to meet her and _him _in an empty classroom. Scorpius didn't know if that was the best place to meet since the janitor didn't really approve of the students entering classrooms outside of when they had lessons but then again, there wasn't many places to be alone at Hogwarts.

Scorpius arrived first at the scene. The classroom wasn't often in use and that was probably why Rose had chosen it. It wasn't even decorated, like the other classrooms. By just looking at the room it was impossible to guess what subject was taught in it. Itwas just a lot of benches, chairs and bookshelves along the walls with pointless books. As he waited Scorpius tried to read the titles of the books but the spines of them was too dusty for the titles to be readable.

The door opened and Scorpius turned around just as he was holding a dusty skull in his hand. It was probably the only object in the room that wasn't a book. Scorpius who stared towards the door was expecting to see Rose and her ocean of red waves first was surprised to see him. Albus. It had been so long since Scorpius had stared directly at him that he felt a bit weird doing so. He felt something twist inside of him and he had a feeling of wanting to just run. Behind Albus was Rose who was practically pushing Albus into the room before closing the door behind them. Albus stared at Scorpius before he turned towards Rose who had a devious smile on her face, not very much like her.

"Why is he here?" Albus complained.

It surprised Scorpius at first that she hadn't told him the reason for being here. After a second of thinking it all made sense though. Why would Albus be here if he knew Scorpius would be there? It didn't make sense.

"Because all of your friends are tired of you locking yourself up in the Gryffindor tower, being out of your own head all the time and being a total bore. He's the source, right? So speak with him and get happy again."Rose seemed very certain about what she was saying and Scorpius didn't blame Albus for not being able to talk back at her.

Albus took a peek over his shoulder. Scorpius was silently putting the skull back on its place and looked very harmless when he did so. Albus sighed and rolled his eyes back to his cousin.

"You are far sneakier than anyone gives you credit for," he admitted.

Rose took this as a way of him agreeing to talk with Scorpius and forced Albus to sit down on one of the chairs. She tried to tell Scorpius to do the same, but he refused before she had even opened her mouth. He only raised a hand and stayed at the same place as he had been standing since the other two arrived.

The silence that followed wasn't really according to her plan though. She knew she had told Scorpius that he only had to be there and didn't actually have to talk, but that didn't work if Albus wasn't going to talk either. So she decided to use the gift of staring again. It had worked the first time.

Scorpius tried to ignore it at first but the silence was killing him and so he coughed to get the other boy's attention before speaking.

"If you are mad," he said and Rose applauded silently behind Albus' back, "about what Moffat claimed then you really shouldn't be. I never lied and I never had any kind of _'plan'_."

Albus rolled his eyes. "I'm not mad, okay?"

"You are!" Rose said and her cousin gave her an irritated look.

"I don't really care if you are, okay? You can think whatever you want of me but Rose and your little sister and apparently some others are worried about you, so don't take what Moffat said to heart."

"You worried about me?" Albus turned towards Rose while looking genuinely surprised.

"Dear Merlin, of course we are!" Rose gave him a nudge. "And the only reason that Scorpius is here is because he is worried as well. Right?"

She looked at Scorpius and panicked. He wasn't looking too sure and Rose hoped that what she had said wouldn't make things worse. Her cousin was very easily hurt. This whole situation was a proof of that. She really didn't want to make it worse.

Scorpius on the other hand was thinking really hard about what to say. Did he worry about Albus? No and yes. Scorpius was never sure what he actually felt and what he wanted others to think. But this situation was really getting to him, for good and bad. He wasn't even sure if this was a moment to lie or not.

"Listen Albus," Scorpius said as he decided it was better not to answer at all, "you were the one that decided to get involved with me, even though I've done some bad things to you, and I may have used you just because I studied more with you around and that I actually got a reason to spend more time around Rose," Scorpius felt very awkward to admit it and that Rose looked surprised didn't really help either, "but I would never bother to have you around just for a good laugh."

Rose looked proud and Scorpius didn't dare to look at Albus. Scorpius seldom spoke his feelings and he had never had to convince anyone about something like this. Instead he turned towards the skull. In his head he named it Albus II, not because he wanted Albus to be a skull but that looking at the skull was easier than to look at Albus.

"Albus?" Rose said and Scorpius still didn't dare to look at that direction.

There was another moment of silence until the chair scraped against the floor and it sounded like the boy stood up. Scorpius wasn't sure what to expect and actually felt like just walking out of the room. He had done what he could and he didn't want to bother about this anymore.

"I'm sorry."

The words made Scorpius turn his head in an instant. Albus was looking... ashamed? Scorpius didn't get it at all. He glanced at Rose for a second who just shrugged. Albus clenched his fists.

"I'm really sorry, Scorpius," he said and raised his gaze. "Everyone always told me not to trust you and I told them that they were stupid. I can't believe I let someone like Moffat make me believe anything else!"

Was it really supposed to be that easy? Was it actually over? Scorpius couldn't believe it! Rose had been nagging him to have this conversation every day for over a week. Now Rose and Albus were exchanging some sentences and was moving towards the door. Both looked pretty calm and it was as if the whole situation was very rushed. Apparently Scorpius didn't like that.

"Wait guys," he said while nervously fingering on Albus II. Rose stopped with her hand on the nob. "Even if this was nothing but a misunderstanding and everything is fine and whatever I feel like the whole truth should be told."

Rose and Albus both raised their eyebrows simultaneously.

"I don't know what you think happened in the forest, but back then I just wanted to get over with that detention and so I may have been nice to you. I don't want you to think that I was actually okay with this from the beginning. I actually hated having you around at first."

"What?" Albus seemed confused. "But that night I just saw a new side of you. That's all."

"It wasn't the real me!" Scorpius grabbed the skull. Hard.

"It was!" Albus raised his voice. "During this time we've been hanging out together I've gotten to know you! All of your sides. And you might not really enjoy hanging out with me that much but you are still nice at times."

"You are," Rose said with a gentle smile. "You proved that today."

Scorpius was just about to object when he turned his gaze from the skull to Albus. Scorpius didn't know what made him sigh and just say "okay, if you say so". Rose opened the door and Scorpius watched Albus as they left. At one point the boy looked over his shoulder at Scorpius, opening his mouth as if he was about to say something but didn't. He only stopped for a second and stared. It was weird and Scorpius forced himself to look away. He heard the door make a grinding noise as it was on its way to shut as he stared at the skull.

Albus II.

No one would notice if that skull disappeared, right?

Before he left the room he put the skull in his bag.

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><p><strong>When I re-wrote parts of this chapter I actually got some inspiration for what is going to happen next. WOW. So this is not dead. I have a very weak idea of what will happen. This story has taught me a very good lesson about planning fanfiction before writing too much. Keep that in mind children...<strong>

**And remember to review!**

**And if there is anything that you would enjoy reading in this fanfic, feel free to tell me about it. I love when people help me with ideas!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Would you believe it? A new chapter? What is this? **

**Well it's kind of easy. I'm planning on working on ending all the unfinished fanfics I have here on , pretty much because I suck at finishing fanfics. I took time to read this fic again and just.. wow, I got inspiration. And since this is just a little over 2 years now I feel like it's time to get on with this. Hope people is excited about this! I know that I am! **

**But keep in mind that I haven't written anything for this for over a year and I lost all the chapters and notes I had written for this. I've had to come up with something new. My writing style might have changed slightly and my way of writing these boys as well.. Just slightly. But mostly I realised that I have been bad with continuity (at least that was what I thought?) so I will be better with that now. **

**Okay, I'm not going to ramble on but I hope that this chapter is a nice surprise and that you will enjoy it. There's a treat at the end~**

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><p>It was Scorpius idea to stay away from each other. After having made up with each other (and having Rose look all full of herself during the next potions class) there was still some things that bothered Scorpius and the number one thing was Moffat. It had been some weeks since that time in the hallway and it caused unwanted tension between the fourth and third years. Though rumours had spread quickly amongst the students the boys in Scropius year stood by his side in the whole thing. They didn't really know what was going on but pretty much no one younger than Moffat liked the boy. From what Cornelius had heard the rumours going around amongst all the other boys in year three there weren't really much talk about Albus or Gryffindor, just that Moffat had picked a fight where he shouldn't have.<p>

The only relief came from the fact that Moffat was more of a wimp than he let on. He would avoid Scorpius and probably knew that there was ill will directed towards him. He had tasted Scorpius wrath before, and that was after just teasing him a little. Causing a fight between two friends was something completely different and for Moffat it was close to impossible to try and figure out what the whole thing had done for Scorpius.

All because Scorpius was hiding it.

"It's better if we just avoid being together for a while. If Moffat catch us together he will probably be stubborn enough to try something again. He is probably still pissed about that jinx."

It was after school and Scorpius had met Albus in the hallway. Before the boy had been able to smile and greet him, Scorpius had grabbed his sleeve and dragged him to a more secluded place. It had only been two days since they had made up. If that was even the right word. Rose would probably describe it as such.

"So you're saying that we'll just let him think that he successfully made me really angry with you?" Albus said with his disappointment apparent in his face. The green eyes seemed to glistened from sadness. Scorpius felt pretty much disgusted with how much they spoke to him.

"It's just for a while. Until things calm down."

"And how long is that?"

"I don't know," Scorpius said and shrugged.

Their short conversation died instantly, all because of the sad Gryffindor looking as if he'd just been given the death sentence. Such great defeat was written all over his body. From sloping shoulders to the lowered gaze.

"Don't do that," Scorpius groaned. Albus looked up, adding a little confusion to the disappointment he was trying to embodiment. "I'm not saying this to be mean! It's just... for the best."

"I know!"

"Then don't look at me like that!"

"I can't help that I'm disappointed!"

Scorpius took a deep breath to answer but stopped himself. Whatever he was about to yell out ended up being a sigh.

"Okay, fine. As long as no one see us hang out it's okay I guess. Like now. But no more studying in the library or walking to class together." Scorpius instantly regretted saying that last thing. They never had walked to class together, at least not on purpose, so he hoped it wouldn't give the boy any ideas.

Even if it did Scorpius didn't get to find out. Albus lit up with a great smile spreading form his lips to his eyes and to the rest of his body. Scorpius had seen that before, remembering that he'd thought of Albus as a cute puppy at that time. This time Scorpius couldn't even make himself keep his eyes on the boy. The cute puppy thought had popped back in his mind and it troubled Scorpius that he liked it.

"Thank you, Scorpius!"

Scorpius looked back to the boy for a second, somehow surprised to hear his name spoken by the boy. It wasn't the first time but somehow it rang differently with the words "thank you" put in front of it.

And thus their relationship was somehow back to normal. Scorpius tried to tell himself that it was nothing more than before. A kind of pre-friendship in which he didn't have to feel obligated to do anything at all. As if Albus was on the bottom of his priorities.

That was proved wrong rather quickly. Before he had been able to act uncomfortable with Albus whenever they weren't alone. Albus would think it was because of his Slytherin friends and didn't get offended. But Moffat had somehow made Scorpius aware of Albus in a new way. That he might slip away again. If that happened he'd get Rose nagging him again until they made up. He kept telling himself that. It was the only way he could accept that he would light up into a smile whenever he saw Albus and they were alone.

In short, things had turned weird for Scorpius lately.

Albus was fine with only chatting a little now and then in empty classrooms or deserted hallways. The conversations were simple and shallow, pretty much only touching upon subjects like school or Quidditch. They were the type of conversations that were hard not to simply enjoy.

"It was so hilarious but he didn't get it at all!" Scorpius accidentally shout out. His voice echoed in the hallway but neither him nor Albus noticed it. Instead they just smiled and laughed as if they weren't at all supposed to keep and eye or ear out if someone would be straying away to that part of school.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you actually gave half of the chocolate frogs away? Dad will be so disappointed when I tell him." Albus tried to sound serious but failed.

"And Apollo just 'this is the first time I get Harry Potter!' and if he knew that I got them from him he'd probably have understood why I laughed. I feel a little bad for him but I just couldn't tell him."

Scorpius decided not to mention that he didn't want to tell anyone that Albus and his family had gotten gifts for him. Especially since Scorpius still tried to come up with a gift mighty enough to even be able to be compared to the signed photograph of Jericho Withers.

"Honestly though, having such a famous dad is like the worst thing ever. Parents are embarrassing overall, but it's even worse to get picked up or left at the station when so many people are already staring at dad. And he probably have no idea what it's like to be embarrassed by your dad."

"Why?"

"He didn't have parents. He probably loves it whenever grandma Molly is acting like an embarrassing parent."

It was hard to say anything to that. Scorpius had no idea what would be appropriate to say. After all, he had no idea that Harry Potter had been an orphan. He'd never really bothered with checking up the man's history, apart from the general stories that everyone knew.

"That probably just makes him extra loving, don't you think?" Scorpius was about to slap a hand over his mouth since it was a thought spoken out loud, but as he raised his hand he heard echoes of footsteps down the corridor, in the direction they were slowly walking.

Both boys froze and stared at each other. It wasn't very dramatic, just a little bit of panic. After all, they'd been so occupied with talking and laughing that they had completely forgotten about the world around, not really aware of where they were.

"Come on," Scorpius said as they both turned around and found himself reach out and grab the sleeve to the boy's robe. They hurried along, pending between walking fast and jogging, until they both caught sight of a door they both knew where it led. The only door in the whole hallway, being the easiest way out. The footsteps were still echoing behind them and with one look between them they both agreed that yeah, hiding would be easier than to try and outwalk whoever was coming their way.

Albus walked in first and Scorpius came behind, pushing Albus forward with his own body as he closed the door behind him, trying to peek through the crack before it closed. He saw nothing before they were both surrounded by darkness.

"Lumos," Albus whispered and soon they were blessed with the shine at the top of the boy's wand.

Form the look of it they hadn't done anything at all with the closet since Scorpius had cleaned it. The trunk he'd been too lazy to actually push all the way into the space stood right before the door, the reason for Albus and Scorpius standing so close together. The moved around it now when they could see it and sat down on top of it. They could barely fit their legs in but managed anyway. They were surrounded by stuff and by every silent second that passed Scorpius became more and more aware of the fact that it actually looked pretty messy even though he'd actually spent a few days to clean it properly. Apparently it wasn't very properly at all.

"So how long do we wait?" Albus asked while moving his wand back and forth, following the light with his eyes.

"A minute or two?"

"Ah, okay."

They sat silent for about ten seconds before Albus seemed to deem it boring. Scorpius couldn't say he was very surprised. He was also experiencing something uncomfortable himself. The space was too small and he was alone with Albus there and Scorpius felt like there was something about being alone in a badly lit closet that was... special. He couldn't even describe it.

"Do you really think that this is okay?"

"What?"

"We're hiding in a closet from someone who probably wouldn't even pay us any attention, all because of one guy who shouldn't even be worth it. I think we should just hang out and ignore him."

"It's not that easy..." Scorpius mumbled, more to himself than to Albus.

The idea of not talking in front of Moffat wasn't just because Scorpius didn't want Moffat to mess with them. It was also a lot because he was trying to come up with revenge before Moffat could do anything more. Something that wouldn't put Scorpius in trouble, but rather make Moffat have to take some severe punishment. But Scorpius figured that Albus wouldn't be into that, with him being such a good guy.

"I guess... Though, to be honest it is kinda exciting to have to hide like this," Albus said and unconsciously put his hand on Scorpius.

Both boys turned their gazes towards each other at the same time. Both with smiles on their lips. Both with a special warmth in their chests.

Scorpius recognised it. He'd felt it more than once with Albus, but had never been able to explain it. Unlucky for Scorpius he seemed to have forgotten the first time it had happened to him, also that in a dark place. To see green eyes in the dark and feel the warmth of a hand against his skin.

Two seconds later the space between them had narrowed. Scorpius had leaned forward, nervously placed a sweeping kiss against Albus' lips. A moment only lasting a second but being burned into their conscious as if someone just pored boiling water over them.

Scorpius jumped away, almost tripping backwards over the trunk before he felt a hand grab his wrist. At first struggling, his mind screaming for him to just get the hell out of there, but soon finding himself unable to actually get anything done with that strong grip holding him back.

"What was that?!" Albus accidentally yelled. "That wasn't the first time! Scorpius?"

"Nothing! It was nothing! Just let me go, I can't be here!" Scorpius knew it sounded stupid but he was so embarrassed he could die. The first time it had been as if Albus hadn't even noticed it. Now all of a sudden he was being held back. But even as Albus lost his grip of Scorpius wrist the blond boy stayed.

Albus sat on the trunk while Scorpius had secured himself against the door, hands placed flat against the surface. The wand was on the floor, making it even harder for it to light anything up. It was only for the best, Scorpius thought. His face was probably beet red after all and he could live without Albus seeing that. If Scorpius had been able to see the colour of Albus' face he would have known that the boy was about as crimson as him.

"I've been wanting to ask you but you acted as if it hadn't happened and... I thought it was just me but..."

"No, don't! Please, Potter, just don't!" Scorpius shut his eyes. Closed himself off from that feeling in his chest he would so often be blind to, as if it spoke a different language than him. And maybe it did. But hearing Albus talk like that made Scorpius too aware of what it might be speaking about.

"Scorpius?"

The Sytherin's eyes flew open.

"You bloody idiot! Try to think a little now and then, Potter!"

He didn't mean to say that. To make the conversation end with that as he jerked the door open and stomped away. Luckily enough the hallway was empty, but Scorpius wouldn't have thought about that. He had his mind set on the closest bathroom to splash some gallons of water on his face and try to look as if he hadn't just done something utterly stupid. The worst part, he figured as he stomped away, was probably that he'd left Albus with words that would probably give Albus the completely wrong idea. How would he ever be able to look the boy in the eye again?

* * *

><p><strong>Isn't that a nice way to end things? I just thought I should try and tie things together. I think that before I had<br>almost forgotten that they had actually kissed. You know how blind you can get form just writing and writing... **

**btw it's my birthday tomorrow and christmas soon so I guess this is kind of  
><strong>**a little gift from me to all of you 3 thanks for all of you for sticking around!**


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